South Africa’s mid-year population is estimated to have increased to 57.73 million in 2018, representing an overall increase of 1.55% between 2017 and 2018.
According to Stats SA Mid-year Population estimates 2018, released by Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke in Tshwane on Monday, Gauteng continues to record the largest share of the population, with approximately 14.7 million people living in the province.
The second largest population, with 11.4 million people, is KwaZulu-Natal. Northern Cape remains the province with the smallest share of the population at approximately 1.23 million.
The report also indicates that the female population in the country has remained stable year-on-year at approximately 51% million.
Elderly on the increase
According to the report, the proportion of elderly persons is on the increase and this is indicative in the estimated growth rate over time rising from 1.21% for the period 2002 – 2003 to 3.21% for the period 2017 - 2018.
Life expectancy at birth for 2018 is estimated at 61.1 years for males and 67.3 years for females.
“About 29.5% of the population is aged younger than 15 years and approximately 8.5% is 60 years or older. The highest proportions of those younger than 15 years in South Africa live in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal,” Maluleke said.
HIV prevalence
For 2018, the estimated HIV prevalence rate is approximately 13.1% of the total population -- up from 12.9% in 2017.
The total number of persons living with HIV increased from an estimated 4.25 million in 2002 to 7.52 million by 2018. For adults aged 15 - 49 years, an estimated 19.0% of the population is HIV positive, while HIV prevalence among the youth aged 15 - 24 has decline over time from 6.7% in 2002 to 5.5% in 2018.
The report shows that for the period 2016 - 2021, Gauteng and Western Cape experienced the largest number of inflow migrants of approximately 1 048 440 and 311 004 respectively.
For all periods, the number of international migrants entering the provinces was highest in Gauteng, with Western Cape ranking second. – SAnews.gov.za
