Climate Change, Desertification, Law of
the Sea

Geographic note: South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho and
almost completely surrounds Swaziland

People
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Population: 41,743,459 (July 1996 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 36% (male 7,578,639; female 7,428,123)
15-64 years: 60% (male 12,356,753; female 12,516,467)
65 years and over: 4% (male 744,806; female 1,118,671) (July 1996
est.)

Population growth rate: 1.76% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 27.91 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Death rate: 10.32 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female
all ages: 0.98 male(s)/female (1996 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 48.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 59.47 years
male: 57.21 years
female: 61.8 years (1996 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.43 children born/woman (1996 est.)

Nationality:
noun: South African(s)
adjective: South African

Ethnic divisions: black 75.2%, white 13.6%, Colored 8.6%, Indian
2.6%

Religions: Christian (most whites and Coloreds and about 60% of
blacks), Hindu (60% of Indians), Muslim 2%

Languages: 11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English,
Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1995 est.)
total population: 81.8%
male: 81.9%
female: 81.7%

Government
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Name of country:
conventional long form: Republic of South Africa
conventional short form: South Africa
abbreviation: RSA

Data code: SF

Type of government: republic

Capital: Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative);
Bloemfontein (judicial)

Administrative divisions: 9 provinces; Eastern Cape, Free State,
Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North-West, Northern Cape,
Northern Province, Western Cape

Independence: 31 May 1910 (from UK)

National holiday: Freedom Day, 27 April (1994)

Constitution: 27 April 1994 (interim constitution, replacing the
constitution of 3 September 1984); note - on 8 May 1996, the
Constitutional Assembly voted 421 to two to pass a new constitution
which, after certification by the Constitutional Court, will
gradually go into effect over a three-year