List of South African provinces by population

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Since the election of 27 April 1994, South Africa has been divided into nine provinces. They vary widely in population, from the mostly-urban Gauteng, which contains over 20% of the national population, to the mostly-desert Northern Cape, which contains less than 3%. The following table shows the provincial populations according to the 2011 National Census, [1] the 2016 Community Survey, [2] and the most recent 2022 Census. [3]

Contents

List

RankProvinceCensus 20112016 community surveyCensus 2022
PopulationPercentagePopulationPercentagePopulationPercentage
1 Gauteng 12,272,26323.713,399,72424.115,099,42224.3
2 KwaZulu-Natal 10,267,30019.811,065,24019.912,423,90720.0
3 Western Cape 5,822,73411.26,279,73011.37,433,01912.0
4 Eastern Cape 6,562,05312.76,996,97612.67,230,20411.6
5 Limpopo 5,404,86810.45,799,09010.46,572,72010.6
6 Mpumalanga 4,039,9397.84,335,9647.85,143,3248.3
7 North West 3,509,9536.83,748,4356.73,804,5486.1
8 Free State 2,745,5905.32,834,7145.12,964,4124.8
9 Northern Cape 1,145,8612.21,193,7802.11,355,9462.2
South Africa51,770,561100.055,653,654100.062,027,503100.0

Historical data

Since the creation of the current provinces in 1994 there have been three censuses, in 1996, 2001 and 2011.

ProvinceCensus 1996 [4] PercentageCensus 2001 [4] PercentageCensus 2011Percentage
Gauteng 7,348,42318.18,837,17819.712,272,26323.7
KwaZulu-Natal 8,417,02120.79,426,01721.010,267,30019.8
Eastern Cape 6,302,52515.56,436,76314.46,562,05312.7
Western Cape 3,956,8759.74,524,33510.15,822,73411.2
Limpopo 4,929,36812.15,273,64211.85,404,86810.4
Mpumalanga 2,800,7116.93,122,9907.04,039,9397.8
North West 3,354,8258.33,669,3498.23,509,9536.8
Free State 2,633,5046.52,706,7756.02,745,5905.3
Northern Cape 840,3212.1822,7271.81,145,8612.2
South Africa40,583,573100.044,819,776100.051,770,561100.0

See also

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References

  1. Census 2011: Census in brief (PDF). Pretoria: Statistics South Africa. 2012. p. 18. ISBN   9780621413885. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 May 2015.
  2. Community Survey 2016 in Brief (PDF). Pretoria: Statistics South Africa. 2016. ISBN   9780621449785.
  3. "Statistics South Africa | Census Dissemination". census.statssa.gov.za. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  4. 1 2 Census 2001: Census in brief (PDF). Statistics South Africa. 2003. p. 6. ISBN   0-621-34293-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2005. Retrieved 15 January 2011.