It was revealed that the population of South Africa, recorded in October 2001, is 44,8-million, averaging a growth of 2% a year since 1996 when the population size was set at 40,5-million.
The province with the largest population was recorded as KwaZulu-Natal with 9,4-million people, followed by Gauteng with a population of 8,8-million, while the Northern Cape had the smallest population of 0,8-million.
Gauteng had the largest population growth with 20% , followed by the Western Cape with 14%.
The Eastern Cape and Free State each had growth less that three per cent, while the Northern Cape experienced a 2,1% drop in population.
The percentage of the population aged 0-14 decreased from 34,3% in 1996 to 32,1% in 2001, whereas the percentage of the population 65-years and older increased from 4,8% in 1996 to 4,9% in 2001.
Four out of five South Africans (79%) were Black Africans, 9,6% were White, 2,5% were Indian or Asian and 8,9% of the population was Coloured.
Percentage of women is still higher than that of men, and the figure ranges from 49,7% in Gauteng to 54,6% in Limpopo.
Of all 11 official languages spoken in South Africa, Zulu constitutes the highest ratio at 23,8% and English the fifth highest at only 8,2%.
Regarding education levels, 30,8% of the population has completed some form of secondary level of schooling, 8,4% have studies a tertiary level of education and 17,9% of the population has received no tuition, which is an improvement on the statistics in 1996.
It is said that 95,1% of children between seven and ten were attending an educational institution, which is an improvement to the 1996 statistics.
It appears that most South Africans rely on electricity to heat, light and cook in their homes and the main source of water supply directly into the dwelling via pipes (32,3%) and most households (51,9%) consist of a flush toilet.
The economic sector results indicate that the electricity, gas and water supply industry has the lowest employment rate of 71 626 people in South Africa, whereas the community, social and personal services sectors employed 1 841 851 people.
Manuel said the Census would be used by the various departments in order to gain an understanding of what needs to be improved upon, and what is flourishing economically, socially and domestically.
He added that the domestic statistics show promise, as one of the key issues was the measure of poverty in households, which has also improved since the previous Census.
“Because our economy and population is so unstable, South Africa needs to run a Census every five years, whereas other countries invest in a Census every ten years.
“By doing this, we can find common patterns and use them to improve on various domains in this country,” said Manuel.
Preparations for the next Census in 2006 have already begun.
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