Demographics of South Africa

Source	UN (World Population Prospects 2024)
Date	27 Sep 2024

As of 2024, the population of South Africa is projected at 64.01 million, compared to 63.21 million in 2023. It is the sixth-most populous country in Africa and ranks 24th in the world. The population growth rate in 2024 is projected at 1.19 percent, the 96th highest among 237 countries and dependent territories.

There are 31.15 million males and 32.85 million females in South Africa. The percentage of the male population is 48.67%, compared to 51.33% of the female population. South Africa has 1.70 million more females than males, the 10th highest in the world. The sex ratio in South Africa in 2024 will be 94.822 males per 100 females. South Africa is in the 56th position in terms of the female-to-male ratio.

South Africa population

Year	Population			Growth (%)	M per 100 F
Year	Male	Female	Total	Growth (%)	M per 100 F
1950	6,762,533	6,275,958	13,038,491	2.01	107.753
1955	7,498,801	7,034,564	14,533,365	2.33	106.599
1960	8,436,594	8,003,578	16,440,172	2.68	105.410
1965	9,698,401	9,390,979	19,089,380	3.09	103.274
1970	11,224,879	11,055,105	22,279,984	2.99	101.536
1975	12,985,233	12,705,708	25,690,940	2.75	102.200
1980	14,980,010	14,538,847	29,518,857	3.38	103.034
1985	17,744,485	17,297,608	35,042,093	3.25	102.583
1990	20,733,554	20,012,714	40,746,268	2.69	103.602
1995	21,944,971	22,596,583	44,541,554	1.45	97.116
2000	22,416,070	24,743,649	47,159,719	0.83	90.593
2005	23,652,461	25,837,572	49,490,033	1.00	91.543
2010	25,184,586	27,159,465	52,344,051	1.21	92.729
2015	27,529,271	29,194,266	56,723,537	2.31	94.297
2020	29,381,179	31,181,201	60,562,381	1.59	94.227
2021	29,853,373	31,649,230	61,502,603	1.49	94.326
2022	30,305,843	32,072,567	62,378,410	1.34	94.491
2023	30,750,477	32,461,907	63,212,384	1.31	94.728
2024	31,152,952	32,854,234	64,007,187	1.19	94.822

Life expectancy
Median age
Fertility rate

Demographics Indicators

Year	Life expectancy	Median age	Fertility rate
1950	43.109	19.206	6.032
1955	48.173	18.575	6.127
1960	52.575	17.932	6.105
1965	54.427	17.766	5.892
1970	55.681	17.709	5.634
1975	57.591	17.862	5.191
1980	59.961	18.368	4.780
1985	62.195	19.365	4.495
1990	62.942	20.256	3.724
1995	61.603	20.492	3.172
2000	58.368	20.805	2.413
2005	53.914	22.144	2.512
2010	58.886	23.641	2.445
2015	64.053	25.365	2.359
2020	65.150	27.265	2.257
2021	62.010	27.613	2.248
2022	65.454	27.919	2.227
2023	66.139	28.213	2.216
2024	66.312	28.473	2.205

Total
Crude

South Africa death and birth rate

Year	Total		Crude(per 1000)
Year	Death	Birth	Crude death	Crude birth
1950	281,293	534,108	21.574	40.964
1955	252,075	593,446	17.345	40.833
1960	233,377	654,647	14.196	39.820
1965	247,250	753,872	12.952	39.492
1970	272,204	877,296	12.217	39.376
1975	282,983	950,848	11.015	37.011
1980	284,796	1,023,204	9.648	34.663
1985	306,174	1,200,048	8.737	34.246
1990	335,441	1,170,837	8.232	28.735
1995	397,323	1,140,808	8.920	25.612
2000	490,137	1,017,081	10.393	21.567
2005	659,851	1,124,291	13.333	22.718
2010	594,053	1,160,896	11.349	22.178
2015	522,818	1,191,603	9.217	21.007
2020	586,414	1,182,285	9.683	19.522
2021	733,895	1,190,312	11.933	19.354
2022	586,476	1,190,146	9.402	19.079
2023	584,015	1,186,793	9.239	18.775
2024	591,233	1,182,869	9.237	18.480

Population
Urbanization

Urban and rural population of South Africa

Year	Population		Urban (%)
Year	Urban	Rural	Urban (%)
1950	5,755,262	7,873,166	42.230
1955	6,829,341	8,547,488	44.413
1960	8,138,204	9,318,651	46.619
1965	9,422,320	10,519,983	47.248
1970	10,919,359	11,920,092	47.809
1975	12,610,547	13,601,858	48.109
1980	14,411,610	15,348,861	48.425
1985	16,653,360	17,076,788	49.372
1990	19,545,369	18,015,156	52.037
1995	22,932,019	19,156,146	54.486
2000	26,015,136	19,713,179	56.891
2005	29,065,720	19,754,866	59.536
2010	32,094,811	19,489,852	62.218
2015	35,844,349	19,446,876	64.828
2020	39,550,889	19,170,340	67.354
2021	40,277,814	19,088,162	67.847
2022	40,998,414	18,997,635	68.335
2023	41,711,727	18,898,900	68.819
2024	42,416,701	18,792,082	69.298

Population pyramid
Gender ratio

South Africa population by Age Group (2024)

Age group	Male	Female	Total		M per 100 F
Age group	Male	Female	Persons	Share (%)	M per 100 F
00-04	2,977,820	2,928,833	5,906,653	9.23	101.673
05-09	2,679,785	2,667,800	5,347,584	8.35	100.449
10-14	2,665,722	2,647,506	5,313,229	8.30	100.688
15-19	2,693,789	2,662,387	5,356,176	8.37	101.179
20-24	2,587,995	2,517,930	5,105,926	7.98	102.783
25-29	2,780,005	2,798,805	5,578,810	8.72	99.328
30-34	2,831,294	2,893,647	5,724,941	8.94	97.845
35-39	2,686,256	2,722,919	5,409,175	8.45	98.654
40-44	2,330,070	2,341,856	4,671,926	7.30	99.497
45-49	1,773,888	1,833,118	3,607,006	5.64	96.769
50-54	1,397,643	1,563,977	2,961,620	4.63	89.365
55-59	1,127,930	1,391,313	2,519,244	3.94	81.069
60-64	965,973	1,256,494	2,222,466	3.47	76.878
65-69	729,456	995,184	1,724,640	2.69	73.299
70-74	475,712	707,960	1,183,671	1.85	67.195
75-79	229,801	404,084	633,885	0.99	56.870
80-84	120,911	260,377	381,288	0.60	46.437
85-89	60,635	159,104	219,739	0.34	38.110
90-94	28,510	76,059	104,570	0.16	37.484
95-99	8,068	20,876	28,944	0.05	38.647
100+	1,691	4,005	5,696	0.01	42.222
Total	31,152,954	32,854,234	64,007,189		94.822