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Census 2011 results

The first results of Census 2011 was released on 30 October 2012, a year after the end of the Census enumeration period.

The Census 2011 results contain information about South Africa’s population, household, migration trends and service delivery levels.

South Africa's population now stands at 51 770 560, most of whom (12 272 263) live in Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal (10 267 300) and Eastern Cape (6 562 053). The province with the smallest population is Northern Cape (1 145 861).

Key results

Education

• The percentage distribution of persons aged 20 years and older with no schooling halved over the period 1996 to 2011 (17,9% in 2001 as against 8,6% in 2011).
• The proportion of the population that completed matric has increased from 16% in 1996 to 29% in 2011.

Housing

• The proportion of households living in formal dwellings increased from 65,1% in 1996 to 77.6% in 2011.
• The proportion living in traditional dwellings decreased from 18.3% in 1996 to 7.9% in 2011.
• The proportion of people living in informal dwelling decreased from 16.2% in 1996 to 13.6% 2011.

Delivery of basic services

Water

• The highest proportion of those with piped water inside the dwelling or yard is in:
• Gauteng with 89,4%,
• Free State with 89,1%
• Western Cape with 88,4% of households.
• The proportion of households that have no access to piped water is highest in:
• Eastern Cape: 22,2%
• KwaZulu-Natal: 14,1%
• Limpopo: 14,0%

Sanitation

The proportion of households with flush toilets connected to the sewage system increased to 57,0% in Census 2011 from 50% and 55% in Census 2001 and Community Survey (CS) 2007, respectively.

• The proportion of households using a pit toilet with ventilation (i.e. VIP) increased to 8,8% in Census 2011 from 5,6% and 6,6% in Census 2001 and CS 2007 respectively.
• The bucket toilet system was more common in Census 2001 with 3,9% compared to 2.2% (CS 2007) and 2,1% (Census 2011) still using them.
• The proportion of households which had no toilets declined significantly from 8,3% in Census 2001 and 13,3% and Community Survey 2007 to 5,2% in Census 2011.

Electricity

• A total of 84,7% of household now use electricity for lighting (Census 2011) compared to 58,2% in 1996 (Census 1996).
• The proportion of households relying on paraffin decreased from 12,7% in 1996 to 5.3% in the 2007 Community Survey to 3,0% in 2011.
• The proportion of households depending on candles decreased from 28,7% in 1996 to 11,4% in 2011.
• The highest number of households using electricity for lighting is in Western Cape (93,4%) while the lowest was recorded in Eastern Cape (75%).
• Only 0.4% of household use solar energy for lighting.
• Most households (73,9%) use electricity for cooking. The proportion was 47,5% in 1996.
• The proportion of households using paraffin for cooking decreased from 21.6% in 1996 to 8.5% 2011.
• The proportion of households cooking on wood decreased 23.0% in 1996 to 12.5 in 2011.
• The proportion of households using coal for cooking decreased from 3.6% in 1996 to 0.7 in 2011.

Refuse removal

• The proportion of households whose refuse is removed by local authority weekly increased from 52,1% in 1996 to 62,1% in 2011.
• Those whose refuse was removed less often decreased from 2,2% in 1996 to 1,5% in 2011.
• The households depending on a communal refuse dump decreased from 3.2% in 1996 to 1,9% in 2011.
• There is a minor decrease of those using own refuse dumps from 32.6 in 1996 to 28,2% in 2011.
• The proportion of households that had no rubbish disposal facilities decreased significantly from 9,7% to 5,4% in Census 1996 and 2011 respectively.

Communication

• The proportion of households owning cell-phones significantly increased from 31,9% in 2001 to 88,9% in 2011.
• The proportion using the landline decreased from 23,9% in 2001 to 14,5% in 2011.
• Altogether 35.2% of the households have access to internet. Most households with access tend to connect from their cellphones.

Source: Statistics South Africa

More information

• More results and information on the census
• Speeches and statements on Census 2011
• SA Government News Agency on Census 2011
  >> SA’s population at 51.7 million
  >> Great strides made to improve SA lives: Zuma
  >> Census results on service delivery surprising
  >> Census undercount of 14.6% a concern
  >> S Africans' access to basic services improves
  >> More South Africans attending educational institutions
  >> Census accurate, can be used for policy formulation
• Photos of Census 2011 results release
• Video of Census 2011 results release

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Last modified: 02 November 2012 10:45:02.