TUESDAY, 4.00PM
PRELIMINARY results from last year’s census show that there are 37,9-million people in South Africa, the Central Statistical Service said on Tuesday.
According to the CSS figures released today, 18,2-million (48%) of the total are males and 19,7-million (52%) females. KwaZulu-Natal is the most populous province with 7,7-million inhabitants (20,3% of the total), followed by Gauteng with 7,2-million (18,9%). The least populaous province is the Northen Cape, with 0,7-million (2%). The Western Cape and Northern Province each have 4,1-million people (10,9%), while there are 5,9-million inhabitants of the Eastern Cape (15,5%), 3-million (8%) in North West, 2,6-million (7%) in Mpumalanga, and 2,5-million (6,5%) in the Free State.
The figures reflect the number of people in the country on the night of October 9 last year. The CSS said a special post-enumeration survey indicated an undercount of 6,8%. “This means that about seven people in every 100 across the country were not counted. We accordingly adjusted the preliminary estimates upwards, calculating the undercount separately for five kinds of area in each province.”
“The remaining census information, including employment, education, health, and housing will be available next year,” the CSS added. The results so far, the CSS said, had been surprising. Its own projections, based on previous counts, expected a total population of more than 42-million people.