BASIC
INFORMATION
Formal
Name: Republic of South Africa.
Short
Form: South Africa.
Term
for National(s): South African(s).
Administrative
Capital: Pretoria.
Legislative
Capital: Cape Town.
Judicial
Capital: Bloemfontein.
Independence:
May 31, 1910, as Union of South Africa,
self-governing British dominion; sovereignty
recognized May 1, 1934, under Britain's
Statute of Westminster. Republic of
South Africa, May 31, 1961.
Public
Holidays: New Year's Day
(January 1), Human Rights Day (March
21), Good Friday, Family Day (Easter
Monday), Freedom Day (April 27), Workers'
Day (May 1), Ascension Day, Youth
Day (June 16), Women's Day (August
9), Heritage Day ( September 24),
Day of Reconciliation (December 16),
Christmas Day (December 25), and Day
of Goodwill (December 26).
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GEOGRAPHY
Size:
South Africa occupies 1,227,200 square kilometers
at the southern tip of Africa; seventh largest
African country; twice the size of Texas.
Coastline nearly 3,000 kilometers. Extraterritorial
holdings: Prince Edward Island and Mar ion
Island (Indian Ocean).
Topography:
Interior highlands continuation of African
plateau stretching north to Sahara, 1,200
meters average elevation. Plateau rises
to Drakensberg Mountains (3,300 meters)
south and east; Great Escarpment descends
to coastal lowla nds. Marginal coastal lowlands
vary from eighty to 240 kilometers wide.
Regular coastline, few natural harbors.
Climate:
Variable; warm temperate climate overall;
Mediterranean conditions far southwest;
subtropical northeast; desert northwest.
Moderating influence of ocean currents:
East coast warmed by Agulhas current, west
coast cooled by Beng uela current. Dry,
sunny winters (April-October), summer rains
(November-March) except in southwest, where
rainfall yearround; average annual rainfall
484 millimeters.
Time:
2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
Society
Population: 41.2 million, 1995
estimate (1996 census not yet final). Annual
population growth 2.2 percent. Fertility:
4.4 births per female; crude birth rate:
23.4 per 1,000; 12 percent of births to
teenagers. Population to double in t wenty-five
years. Life expectancy: sixty-three years
males, sixty-eight years females, marked
racial differences. Crude death rate: 9.4
per 1,000. Median age 19.2, declining; 37
percent under age fifteen. Density 33.8
persons per square kilometer, uneven distribution;
concentrations in KwaZulu-Natal (21 percent
of population), Gauteng (17 percent), Eastern
Cape (17 percent). Estimated urban population,
57 to 63 percent; rural, 37 to 43 percent.
Major urban areas: Cape Town, 2.2 million;
Johannesburg, 1.9 million; Durban, 1.1 million;
Pretoria, 1.1 million; Port Elizabeth, 854,000.
Ethnic heterogeneity: estimated 76 percent
black Africans--Nguni (Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi,
Ndebele), Sotho-Tswana, Venda, Tsonga-Shangaan,
Khoisan; 13 percent whites--Afrikaners,
Bri tish, other Europeans; 11 percent Asians
and others. Government estimates at least
2 million foreign workers (1996).
Languages:
Eleven official languages. Most
widely used: isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans,
English, and sePedi; also seSotho, seTswana,
xiTsonga, siSwati, tshiVenda (luVenda),
and isiNdebele. English important in commerce.
Religion:
No government restrictions. Population 80
percent Christians, mostly Protestant. Of
these, 8 million members of African Independent
churches; 4 million, of Dutch Reformed churches.
Traditional African beliefs remain important
, especially in rural areas. Asians almost
equally Hindu and Muslim; Islamic community
growing rapidly.
Education
and Literacy: Superior education
system primarily served racial minority
until 1990s. Nine years compulsory education
universal after 1994; shortages of schools,
teachers. Estimated 7.17 million primary
pupils, 4.59 million s econdary pupils;
20,780 primary and secondary schools, of
which 20,303 government operated; 336,653
primary and secondary teachers. Adult literacy
estimated 61 percent. Nineteen major universities,
two correspondence; extensive vocational
and technical tr aining available.
Health:
Health problems reflect racial, class differences.
Physicians 1 per 1,200 people in wealthy
areas (1 per 10,000 in poor, rural areas).
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS):
10,351 reported cases (1996); human immunodefi-c
iency virus (HIV) infection estimated close
to 1 million. Infant mortality declining:
43.1 deaths first year per 1,000 live births
(54.3 blacks, 7.3 whites). National health
insurance system being phased in.
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