South Africa
The Country of the Week
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Pretoria (administrative capital); Cape Town (legislative capital); Bloemfontein (judicial capital)
- Population
- 61,089,926 (2025 est.)
- Area
- 1,219,090 sq km
- Government
- parliamentary republic
- Religions
- Christian 86%, ancestral, tribal, animist, or other traditional African religions 5.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other 1.5%, nothing in particular 5.2% (2015 est.)
- Ethnic Groups
- Black African 80.9%, Colored 8.8%, White 7.8%, Indian/Asian 2.6% (2021 est.)
- Currency
- rand (ZAR)
- Life Expectancy
- 71.9 years (2024 est.)
- Internet Domain
- .za
- Climate
- mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days, cool nights
- Terrain
- vast interior plateau rimmed by rugged hills and narrow coastal plain
- Natural Resources
- gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, rare earth elements, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt, natural gas
- Major Exports
- gold, platinum, coal, cars, iron ore (2023)
Source: CIA World Factbook (public domain)
Overview
Some of the earliest human remains in the fossil record were found in South Africa. By about A.D. 500, Bantu-speaking groups began settling into what is now northeastern South Africa, displacing Khoisan-speaking groups to the southwest.