Country Facts - South Africa

The People

Nationality
South African(s)

Ethnic Composition

Black	75.2%
White	13.6%
Mixed race (Coloured)	8.6%
Asian (Indian)	2.6%

Religious Composition

Christian	68.0%
African Traditional	28.5%
Muslim	2.0%
Hindu	1.5%

Languages Spoken

Eleven official languages are recognized including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, and Zulu.

Education and Literacy

Seven years of education are compulsory for all children, but this is not currently enforced; an estimated two million school-age children do not attend school. Currently 85 percent of the population is considered literate.

Labor Force

Total: 17 million (2000)

By occupation:

Services	45%
Agriculture	30%
Industry	25%

Geography

Land Mass Total

471,010 sq mi (1,219,912 sq km)
Note: Includes Prince Edward Islands (Marion Island and Prince Edward Island)

Land

471,010 sq mi (1,219,912 sq km)

Water

0 sq mi (0 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 3,021 mi (4,862 km)
Border countries: Botswana 1,143 mi (1,840 km), Lesotho 564 mi (909 km), Mozambique 305 mi (491 km), Namibia 600 mi (967 km), Swaziland 267 mi (430 km), Zimbabwe 139 mi (225 km)

Coastline

1,738 mi (2,798 km)

Maritime claim

Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Continental shelf: (656 ft) 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate/Weather

Mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days, cool nights.

Terrain

Vast interior plateau rimmed by rugged hills and narrow coastal plain.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Atlantic Ocean 0 ft (0 m)
Highest: Njesuthi 11,181 ft (3,408 m)

Natural Resources

Gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt, natural gas

Land use

Arable land	12%
Permanent crops	1%
Other	87%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Prolonged droughts

Environment - current issues

Lack of important arterial rivers or lakes requires extensive water conservation and control measures; growth in water usage threatens to outpace supply; pollution of rivers from agricultural runoff and urban discharge; air pollution resulting in acid rain; soil erosion; desertification.

Geography Note

South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho and almost completely surrounds Swaziland.

Demographics

Population

43,647,658 (July 2002)
Note: South Africa took a census October 1996 that showed a population of 40,583,611 (after an official adjustment for a 6.8% under-enumeration based on a post-enumeration survey); 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.

Age structure

0-14 years:	31.6%	Male: 6,943,761	Female: 6,849,745
15-64 years:	63.4%	Male: 13,377,011	Female: 14,300,850
65 years and over:	5%	Male: 816,222	Female: 1,360,069

(2002)

Growth Rate

0.02% (2002)

Life Expectancy

45.43 years (2002)
Female: 45.68 years
Male: 45.19 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$9,400 (2001)

Infant Mortality

61.78 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.02 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.94 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.6 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.94 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

-1.56 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

South Africa is a middle-income, developing country with an abundant supply of resources, well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors, a stock exchange that ranks among the 10 largest in the world, and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. However, growth has not been strong enough to cut into high unemployment, and daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era, especially the problems of poverty and lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups. Other problems are crime, corruption, and HIV/AIDS. At the start of 2000, President Mbeki vowed to promote economic growth and foreign investment, and to reduce poverty by relaxing restrictive labor laws, stepping up the pace of privatization, and cutting unneeded governmental spending. The economy is predicted to grow by 3 percent in 2003 and advance to 3.5 percent by 2004. South Africa's biggest problem is the inability to attract significant foreign private investment. Crime levels, restrictive corporate ownership regulations and educational shortfalls among the labor force have combined to make foreign firms look elsewhere when shopping for investment venues in today's already risky environment.

Unemployment

37% (2001)

Inflation Rate

5.8% (2001)

Industries

Mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs

Exports

US$32.3 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$28.1 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$412 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

EU 33%, US 20%, Japan 6%, Mozambique 2.5% (2001)

Top Import Partners

EU 41%, US 11.4%, Saudi Arabia 7.3%, Japan 7% (2001)

Top Exports

Gold, diamonds, platinum, other metals and minerals, machinery and equipment

Top Imports

Machinery, transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, textiles, scientific instruments

Debt - external

US$25.5 billion (2001)

Economic aid

US$539 million (1999)

Fiscal Year:

April 1 to March 31

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8a.m. to 1p.m., and 2p.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Retail	8a.m. to 1p.m., and 2p.m. to 5p.m.	Closed
Banks	8:30a.m. to 3:30p.m.	Saturday 8a.m. to 11:30a.m.
Government	9a.m. to 4p.m.	Closed

Note: Shops are generally open from 8:30p.m. to 1p.m. on Saturdays. Legal restrictions on trading hours have recently been rescinded to increase employment. Consequently, an increasing number of shops in the major cities are now open Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings.

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Human Rights Day	March 21	March 21	March 21
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	March 25
Easter¹	April 20	April 11	March 27
Easter Monday	April 21	April 12	March 28
Freedom Day	April 27	April 27	April 27
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Youth Day	June 16	June 16	June 16
National Women's Day	August 9	August 9	August 9
Heritage Day	September 24	September 24	September 24
Reconciliation Day	December 16	December 16	December 16
Christmas Day²	December 25	December 25	December 25
Boxing Day	December 26	December 26	December 26

Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press