The 1996 South African Census was the first comprehensive national census conducted in the Republic of South Africa following the end of apartheid, with census night held on 9 October 1996. It aimed to enumerate every person present in South Africa on the census night at a cost of R 419,000,000.
On census night, there were 40.58 million people in South Africa. The province with the largest population was KwaZulu-Natal with 8.4 million people, followed by Gauteng with 7.3 million people. The Northern Cape province had the smallest population, just 840,321 people.
Black Africans were the largest race of South Africans, totaling just over 31 million, while isiZulu was the most spoken official language with 9.2 million speakers.
The population of South Africans aged between 5 and 9 was the largest, with 4,668,722.
Census 1996 results for South Africa
- Area
- 1,220,813 km²
- South Africa’s Population
- 40,583,573 (33.24 per km²)
Gender
| Gender | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Female | 21,062,686 | 51.9% |
| Male | 19,520,887 | 48.1% |
Age
| Age | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 0–4 | 4,443,621 | 10.9% |
| 5–9 | 4,668,722 | 11.5% |
| 10–14 | 4,654,100 | 11.5% |
| 15–19 | 4,180,716 | 10.3% |
| 20–24 | 3,982,353 | 9.8% |
| 25–29 | 3,455,728 | 8.5% |
| 30–34 | 3,074,201 | 7.6% |
| 35–39 | 2,653,755 | 6.5% |
| 40–44 | 2,138,626 | 5.3% |
| 45–49 | 1,677,525 | 4.1% |
| 50–54 | 1,268,895 | 3.1% |
| 55–59 | 1,069,936 | 2.6% |
| 60–64 | 890,536 | 2.2% |
| 65–69 | 758,887 | 1.9% |
| 70–74 | 482,163 | 1.2% |
| 75–79 | 377,428 | 0.9% |
| 80–84 | 178,902 | 0.4% |
| 85+ | 137,284 | 0.3% |
| Unspecified | 490,194 | 1.2% |
Population group
| Race | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Black African | 31,127,631 | 76.7% |
| White | 4,434,697 | 10.9% |
| Coloured | 3,600,446 | 8.9% |
| Indian or Asian | 1,045,596 | 2.6% |
| Unspecified/Other | 375,203 | 0.9% |
First language
The nine official indigenous African languages of South Africa were spoken as first home languages by 76.5% of the population at the time of the 1996 national census.
At the time of the 1996 national census, 76.5% of the population spoke the nine official indigenous African languages as their first home language.
| Language | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| isiZulu | 9,200,144 | 22.7% |
| isiXhosa | 7,196,118 | 17.7% |
| Afrikaans | 5,811,547 | 14.3% |
| Sepedi | 3,695,846 | 9.1% |
| English | 3,457,467 | 8.5% |
| Setswana | 3,301,774 | 8.1% |
| Sesotho | 3,104,197 | 7.6% |
| Xitsonga | 1,756,105 | 4.3% |
| SiSwati | 1,013,193 | 2.5% |
| Tshivenda | 876,409 | 2.2% |
| isiNdebele | 586,961 | 1.4% |
| Other | 228,275 | 0.6% |
| Unspecified | 355,538 | 0.9% |
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 8 metropolitan and 44 district municipalities.
- Local Municipalities
- Administrative divisions of the district municipalities; there are 226 local 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”.
Provincial population
The table shows South Africa’s population by province in 1996.
Select a province below, then navigate down the hierarchy of places.
| Province | Population | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Cape | 6,302,525 | 15.5% |
| Free State | 2,633,504 | 6.5% |
| Gauteng | 7,348,423 | 18.1% |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 8,417,021 | 20.7% |
| Limpopo | 4,929,368 | 12.1% |
| Mpumalanga | 2,800,711 | 6.9% |
| North West | 3,354,825 | 2.1% |
| Northern Cape | 840,321 | 8.3% |
| Western Cape | 3,956,875 | 9.7% |
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.
Also check out
➜ South African National Census of 1991
➜ South African National Census of 2001