ter 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

Environment--international agreements:
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life
Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship
Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography--note: South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho and
almost completely surrounds Swaziland

People

Population: 43,426,386 (July 1999 est.)
note: South Africa took a census 10 October 1996 which showed a
population of 37,859,000 (after a 6.8% adjustment for
underenumeration based on a post-enumeration survey); this figure is
still about 10% below projections from earlier censuses; since the
full results of that census have not been released for analysis, the
numbers shown for South Africa do not take into consideration the
results of this 1996 census

Age structure:
0-14 years: 34% (male 7,541,840; female 7,403,235)
15-64 years: 61% (male 13,180,925; female 13,312,917)
65 years and over: 5% (male 798,825; female 1,188,644) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.32% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 25.94 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 12.81 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 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
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 51.99 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 54.76 years
male: 52.68 years
female: 56.9 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.09 children born/woman (1999 est.)

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

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

Religions: Christian 68% (includes most whites and Coloreds,
about 60% of blacks and about 40% of Indians), Muslim 2%, Hindu 1.5%
(60% of Indians), traditional and animistic 28.5%

Languages: 11 official languages, inclu