The 2001 Census of South Africa was the second national census of the Republic of South Africa, or Post-Apartheid South Africa.
More than 82,500 enumerators and more than 16,500 supervisors and fieldwork co-ordinators were employed to collect information on persons and households nationwide using a uniform methodology. The census aimed to enumerate every person present in South Africa on the census night between 9–10 October 2001 at a cost of R 987,000,000.
The 2001 national census was organised and planned by Statistics South Africa in terms of the Statistics Act from the beginning of 1999, under the commission of the Statistician-General Pali Lehohla.
In preparation, the country was divided into about 80,000 small pockets of land called enumeration areas (EAs). An enumerator was assigned to each EA to visit all places where people lived.
The collected information was processed at the Census processing centre in Pretoria, employing about 1,000 people working in shifts for sixteen months to process the questionnaires. For the first time, scanning was used to capture the data on a computer. The captured data was then edited and made accessible for analysis.
In every census, there are bound to be some people or households who are missed, or some people who are counted twice. During November 2001, a post-enumeration survey (PES) was undertaken to determine the degree of undercount or overcount in Census 2001. The numbers and percentages presented in this report have been adjusted according to the PES findings.
Census 2001 results for South Africa
- Area
- 1,219,602 km²
- South Africa’s Population
- 44,819,778 (36.75 per km²)
- Number of Households
- 11,205,705 (9.19 per km²)
Gender
| Gender | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Female | 23,385,737 | 52.2% |
| Male | 21,434,040 | 47.8% |
Age
| Age | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 0–4 | 4,449,816 | 9.9% |
| 5–9 | 4,853,555 | 10.8% |
| 10–14 | 5,061,917 | 11.3% |
| 15–19 | 4,981,721 | 11.1% |
| 20–24 | 4,294,523 | 9.6% |
| 25–29 | 3,934,939 | 8.8% |
| 30–34 | 3,340,901 | 7.5% |
| 35–39 | 3,071,770 | 6.9% |
| 40–44 | 2,619,465 | 5.8% |
| 45–49 | 2,087,380 | 4.7% |
| 50–54 | 1,638,020 | 3.7% |
| 55–59 | 1,205,266 | 2.7% |
| 60–64 | 1,065,294 | 2.4% |
| 65–69 | 787,927 | 1.8% |
| 70–74 | 631,469 | 1.4% |
| 75–79 | 367,537 | 0.8% |
| 80–84 | 270,945 | 0.6% |
| 85+ | 157,333 | 0.4% |
Population group
| Race | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Black African | 35,416,166 | 79.0% |
| White | 4,293,640 | 9.6% |
| Coloured | 3,994,505 | 8.9% |
| Indian or Asian | 1,115,467 | 2.5% |
First language
| Language | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| isiZulu | 10,677,305 | 23.8% |
| isiXhosa | 7,907,153 | 17.6% |
| Afrikaans | 5,983,426 | 13.3% |
| Sepedi | 4,208,980 | 9.4% |
| Setswana | 3,677,016 | 8.2% |
| English | 3,673,203 | 8.2% |
| Sesotho | 3,555,186 | 7.9% |
| Xitsonga | 1,992,207 | 4.4% |
| SiSwati | 1,194,430 | 2.7% |
| Tshivenda | 1,021,757 | 2.3% |
| isiNdebele | 711,821 | 1.6% |
| Other | 217,293 | 0.5% |
Place types
The census results are available for six area types listed here, from largest to smallest.
- Provinces
- The nine provinces of South Africa.
- Metropolitan and District Municipalities
- Administrative divisions of the provinces; there are 6 metropolitan and 46 district municipalities.
- Local Municipalities
- Administrative divisions of the district municipalities.
- Main Places
- Stats SA-defined locations that generally correspond to towns, small cities, regions of large cities, or traditional council areas. Areas that do not fall within any named settlement are incorporated in a main place named for the municipality.
- Sub Places
- Stats SA-named locations which generally correspond to suburbs, villages, or localities. When a main place contains only one sub place, that sub place is named for the main place with a suffix of “SP”.
Provinces
Provincial population
The table shows South Africa’s population by province in 2001.
Select a province below, then navigate down the hierarchy of places.
| Province | Population | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Cape | 6,436,763 | 14.4% |
| Free State | 2,706,775 | 6.0% |
| Gauteng | 8,837,178 | 19.7% |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 9,426,017 | 21.0% |
| Limpopo | 5,273,642 | 11.8% |
| Mpumalanga | 3,122,990 | 7.0% |
| North West | 3,669,349 | 8.2% |
| Northern Cape | 822,727 | 1.8% |
| Western Cape | 4,524,335 | 10.1% |
Provincial land area
The table shows the distribution of land area by province in 2001.
| Province | Area (km²) | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Cape | 169,954 | 13.9% |
| Free State | 129,824 | 10.6% |
| Gauteng | 16,936 | 1.4% |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 92,305 | 7.6% |
| Limpopo | 122,816 | 10.1% |
| Mpumalanga | 79,487 | 6.5% |
| North West | 116,231 | 9.5% |
| Northern Cape | 362,599 | 29.7% |
| Western Cape | 129,449 | 10.6% |
MzansiMirror.com is not affiliated with Statistics South Africa, nor is it affiliated with the South African Government. Stats SA provides the basic data, while Mzansi Mirror processes the census data to produce the information displayed. We obtained population statistics from the Census 2001 Community Profile Databases, and we calculated geographical areas from the Census 2001 GIS DVD.
Also check out
➜ South African National Census of 1991
➜ South African National Census of 1996