Population rises to 50.59 million

Pretoria – The South African mid-year population rose to 50.59 million, up from 49.99 million in 2010, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Wednesday.

According to Stats SA, approximately 52 percent of the population is females.

From 2001 to 2011, the total number of people living with HIV increased from an estimated 4.21 million in 2001 to 5.38 million by 2011. For 2011, an estimated 10.6 percent of the total South African population is HIV positive. An estimated 16.6 percent of the adult population, aged 15 to 49 years, is HIV positive.

“Approximately one-fifth of South African women in their reproductive ages are HIV positive,” said Stats SA.

Gauteng province is where most of the population lives at approximately 11.3 million people, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 10.8 million people residing there. However, the Northern Cape remains the province with the smallest share of the population.

Nearly 31.3 percent of the population is younger than 15 years, while those who are younger than 15, approximately 3.66 million, live in KwaZulu-Natal; 3.07 million of those who are younger than 15 live in Gauteng.

Approximately 7.7 percent of the population is 60 years or older.

“Migration is an important demographic process in shaping the age structure and distribution of the provincial population. For the period 2006–2011, it is estimated that approximately 215 000 people will migrate from the Eastern Cape; Limpopo is estimated to experience a net out-migration of just over 140 000 people. During the same period, Gauteng and Western Cape are estimated to experience a net inflow of migrants of approximately 367 100 and 95 600, respectively,” noted the report.

For 2011, life expectancy at birth is estimated at 54.9 years for males and 59.1 years for females while the infant mortality rate is estimated at 37.9 per 1 000 live births.

Africans constitute just more than 79 percent of the total South African population. The white population is estimated at 4.57 million, the coloured population at 4.54 million and the Indian/Asian population at 1.27 million. – BuaNews