Facts and Figures
Full name: South Africa
Nationality
noun: South African(s) adjective: South African
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Area
total: 1,219,912 sq km land: 1,219,912 sq km note: includes Prince Edward Islands (Marion Island and Prince Edward Island) water: 0 sq km
Population: 44,344,136
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2005 est.)
Ethnic groups: black 75.2%, white 13.6%, Colored 8.6%, Indian 2.6%
Capital: Pretoria, population 530,000
Largest Cities
Durban – 720,000 Soweto – 600,000 Bloemfontein – 130,000
Official Language: 11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
Religion: Christian 68% (includes most whites and Coloreds, about 60% of blacks and about 40% of Indians), Muslim 2%, Hindu 1.5% (60% of Indians), indigenous beliefs and animist 28.5%
Political system: republic
GDP: purchasing power parity – $491.4 billion (2004 est.)
GDP per head: purchasing power parity – $11,100 (2004 est.)
Annual growth: 3.5% (2004 est.)
GDP – composition by sector
agriculture: 3.6%
industry: 31.2% services: 65.2% (2004 est.)
Inflation: 4.5% (2004 est.)