Overview
Key figures and core demographic trends for South Africa.
Population
64.7M
Fertility Rate
2.21
Life Expectancy
66.3y
GDP / capita
$6.6K
Pop. Growth
1.15%
Net Migration
146.4K
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Provisional fertility nowcast
Source: National Statistical Offices or Ministries of Health / Interior · compiled by @BirthGauge. Full nowcast table · provisional, may be revised.
TFR 2024
2.21
TFR 2025
2.21
Rates per 1,000 people per year — not absolute birth or death counts. When the birth rate exceeds the death rate, natural increase is positive (before migration).
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Economy
National accounts and international trade.
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Exports & imports
International trade for South Africa — product exports and imports from OEC / BACI.
Compare with another country
Loading export and import product mix…
Migration
Net migration, permits, and the foreign-born population of South Africa, plus where migrants come from and where the diaspora lives.
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Largest foreign-born communities in South Africa by country of birth (2024) · arrow shows change since 2010.
Source: UN DESA International Migrant Stock 2024
Top destinations for people born in South Africa who now live abroad (2024) · arrow shows change since 2010.
Source: UN DESA International Migrant Stock 2024
Demography
Age structure, projections, and population composition.
That is 61% larger than in 2025. The animation freezes the latest fertility rate. It is a model, not an official forecast. UN World Population Prospects 2024 medium is 94 million in 2100 — lower than this run (low 65 million, high 134 million). UN lets fertility change over the century and includes some migration; this run does not.
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Mortality & longevity
Life expectancy, death rates and child mortality as far back as vital registration and historical reconstructions allow (from 1960), plus infant and maternal mortality.
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Pre-1960 life expectancy and long child-mortality series are from Our World in Data (Riley, Zijdeman et al., HMD, UN). Historic crude death rates cover countries in the Human Mortality Database only — Sweden from 1751, France from 1816, and so on. Crude rates are not age-standardized.
Health, education & infrastructure
Spending, capacity and attainment. Coverage is thinner than for demographic series — most figures come from periodic surveys rather than continuous registration.
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Society, housing & beliefs
Family, crime, housing and religion indicators.
Homicide rate
43.7
Divorce rate
—
Births outside marriage
—
Home ownership
—
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
- Christian86.0%
- Unaffiliated11.0%
- Muslim2.0%
- Other1.0%
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
5per 1,000
2019
Only one year available — not enough points for a trend line.
Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data
Why this country’s demographics matter
Age structure, fertility gaps, and migration change budgets and electorates. This is the constraint, not a manifesto.
National fertility, age structure, and migration set the size of the next workforce and the next electorate.
- Period TFR versus replacement (~2.1) is the first number — then who is having the children, if an official split exists.
- Neighbors on the same World Bank series are the “ah, they have X children” chart.
- 2040 workers are mostly already born; TFR shows up around 2060. Who works, retirement age, and migration move 2040.
- Family policy elsewhere (France, Hungary, Korea) has not returned a high-income country to replacement in recent decades.
The longer argument — pensions, schools, coalitions, and what migration does and does not offset — is on why birthrates matter. The case for a pronatal culture as the response is on what's the solution?. To turn this country’s series into a memo you can forward, open the briefing builder — generate a draft, write it yourself, then expand any paragraph.