South Africa's population surged to 62 million last year according to census data from the statistics agency released on Tuesday.
This represents a remarkable 20% increase compared to the last 51.8 million count conducted in 2011.
In 2022, the census indicated that eight out of every ten individuals were of Black African descent, while less than one in ten were classified as white. There has been a steady decline in the proportion of the White population, from 11% in 1996 to 7.3% in 2022.
Of those counted in 2022, 81.4% were Black, 8.2% of mixed race, 7.3% White and 2.7% Indian.
Moreover, the number of immigrants stood at more than 2.4 million and included just over 1 million Zimbabwean nationals and 416,564 Mozambicans.
"Migration between countries is driven largely by the quest for economic opportunities, political instability and increasingly, environmental hazards," Stats SA noted.
The census showed South Africa had 17.8 million households, up from 14 million in 2011. Almost half of those were situated in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Informal dwellings accounted for 8.1% of the total, down from 13.6% in 2022.
The population of Gauteng, the economic hub, stood at 15 million, the highest of the nine provinces, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 12.4 million and the Western Cape with 7.4 million. One-third of people who moved internally went to Gauteng and 15% to the Western Cape.
The recent census, only the fourth since South Africa's first democratic elections following the end of apartheid in 1994, was notably the first conducted in over a decade due to data collection disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a noteworthy milestone for South Africa, the census was conducted entirely online, marking a significant shift in the methodology employed for this vital data collection process.
President Cyril Ramaphosa applauded the statistics agency for this, adding that the information was critical for government planning.
"It is going to help us inform how the budget should be structured," said Ramaphosa at a media briefing following the release of the census, adding that the data would also inform how the country's resources would be used and distributed.
The data revealed that in South Africa, a larger proportion of women attained higher education qualifications than men during the period. Although, recent figures indicated a higher unemployment rate for women compared to men.
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