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General Information

Region		Southern Africa
Population (000, 2024)		64 007^a
Pop. density (per km2, 2024)		52.4^a
Capital city		Pretoria^c
Capital city pop. (000, 2024)		2 472.6^d
UN membership date		07 November 1945
Surface area (km2)		1 221 037^b
Sex ratio (m per 100 f)		94.8^a
National currency		Rand (ZAR)
Exchange rate (per US$)		18.5^e

Economic indicators

	2015	2020	2024
GDP: Gross domestic product (million current US$)	346 486	338 291	405 271^b
GDP growth rate (annual %, const. 2015 prices)	1.3	-6	1.9^b
GDP per capita (current US$)	6 200.9	5 753.1	6 766.5^b
Economy: Agriculture (% of Gross Value Added)	2.5	2.9	3.2^b
Economy: Industry (% of Gross Value Added)	26.3	25.8	27.5^b
Economy: Services and other activity (% of GVA)	71.2	71.4	69.4^b
Employment in agriculture^f (% of employed)	15.4	21.4	19.3^b
Employment in industry^f (% of employed)	21.4	17.6	18.1^b
Employment in services^f (% employed)	63.2	61	62.7^b
Unemployment (% of labour force)	22.9	24.3	28.6^f
Labour force participation rate (female/male pop. %)	51.0 / 65.0	48.7 / 61.3	52.2 / 64.1^f
CPI: Consumer Price Index^g,h (2010=100)	130	164	194^e
Agricultural production index (2014-2016=100)	101	111	113^b
International trade: exports (million current US$)	80 036	85 227	110 608^e
International trade: imports (million current US$)	85 267	68 943	107 123^e
International trade: balance (million current US$)	- 5 232	16 284	3 485^e
Balance of payments, current account (million US$)	- 14 944	6 701	- 6 160^e

Social indicators

	2015	2020	2024
Population growth rate (average annual %)	2.3	1.6	1.2^a
Urban population (% of total population)	64.8	66.9^d	...
Urban population growth rate (average annual %)	2.2ⁱ	...	...
Fertility rate, total (live births per woman)	2.4	2.3	2.2^a
Life expectancy at birth (females/males, years)	67.0 / 60.8	67.9 / 62.2	69.8 / 62.8^a
Population age distribution^j (0-14/60+ years old, %)	28.3 / 8.0	27.0 / 9.4	25.9 / 10.2^a
International migrant stock (000/% of total pop.)	3 231.7 / 5.8^k	2 860.5 / 4.8^k	... / ...
Refugees and others of concern to UNHCR (000)	912.6	266.7	144.5^e
Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births)	39.1	29.3	31.2^a
Health: Current expenditure^l (% of GDP)	8.1	8.6	8.3^m
Health: Physicians (per 1 000 pop.)	...	0.8^d	0.8^m
Education: Government expenditure (% of GDP)	5.5	6.2	6.6^b
Education: Primary gross enrol. ratio (f/m per 100 pop.)	108.8 / 114.5	98.4 / 101.1	96.9 / 99.3^m
Education: Lowr. sec. gross enrol. ratio (f/m per 100 pop.)	112.3 / 108.7	111.4 / 108.7	108.2 / 106.6^m
Education: Upr. Sec. gross enrol. ratio (f/m per 100 pop.)	109.4 / 110.6	119.3 / 101.1	124.7 / 105.8^m
Intentional homicide rate (per 100 000 pop.)	33.4	34	45.5^b
Seats held by women in national parliaments (%)	41.5	46.4ⁿ	46ⁿ

Environment and infrastructure indicators

	2015	2020	2024
Individuals using the Internet^f (per 100 inhabitants)	51.9	72.1^o	74.7^b
Research & Development expenditure (% of GDP)	0.7	0.6	...
Threatened species (number)	527	597	961^e
Forested area (% of land area)	14.2	14.1	14^m
CO2 emission estimates (million tons/tons per capita)	454.1 / 8.1	443.3 / 7.5	434.2 / 7.3^m
Energy production, primary (Petajoules)	6 434	6 308	5 876^m
Energy supply per capita (Gigajoules)	100	93	92^m
Tourist/visitor arrivals at national borders^p (000)	8 904^q	2 802	5 698^b
Important sites for terrestrial biodiversity protected (%)	32.7	36.4	36.6^e
Pop. using safely managed drinking water (urban/rural, %)	84.3 / ...	81.6 / ...	80.5 / ...^b
Pop. using safely managed sanitation (urban/rural, %)	70.9 / ...	72.5 / ...	73.1 / ...^b
Net Official Development Assist. received (% of GNI)	0.42	0.36	0.25^m

Footnotes

a		Projected estimate (medium fertility variant).
b		2022
c		Pretoria is the administrative capital, Cape Town is the legislative capital and Bloemfontein is the judiciary capital.
d		2019
e		2023
f		Estimate.
g		All urban consumers.
h		Calculated by the UN Statistics Division from national indices.
i		Data refers to a 5-year period preceding the reference year.
j		Calculated by the UN Statistics Division.
k		Including refugees.
l		Data refer to fiscal years beginning 1 April.
m		2021
n		Data are as at 1 January of reporting year.
o		Population aged 10 years and over.
p		Excluding transit.
q		Break in the time series.