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South Africa

Africa

Photos of South Africa

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The African penguin is also called the black-footed penguin, Cape penguin, or jackass penguin (due to its mating call resembling a braying donkey), and it is the only penguin species that lives on the African continent, mainly along the coast of South Africa and Namibia. Pictured are African penguins at the Boulders Penguin Colony in Table Mountain National Park.
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Contents

Introduction

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Visit the Definitions and Notes page to view a description of each topic.

Definitions and Notes
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Geography

Area

comparison ranking: total 26

Area - comparative

Area comparison map:
<p>slightly less than twice the size of Texas</p>

People and Society

Age structure

2024 population pyramid:
This is the population pyramid for South Africa. A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country's population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends. <br/><br/>For additional information, please see the entry for Population pyramid on the Definitions and Notes page.

Median age

comparison ranking: total 134

Population growth rate

comparison ranking: 87

Birth rate

comparison ranking: 85

Death rate

comparison ranking: 132

Net migration rate

comparison ranking: 100

Maternal mortality ratio

comparison ranking: 60

Infant mortality rate

comparison ranking: total 76

Total fertility rate

comparison ranking: 80

Tobacco use

comparison ranking: total 69

Environment

Government

Economy

Real GDP growth rate

comparison ranking: 187

Real GDP per capita

comparison ranking: 131

Labor force

comparison ranking: 25

Unemployment rate

comparison ranking: 189

Public debt

comparison ranking: 44

Taxes and other revenues

comparison ranking: 13

Current account balance

comparison ranking: 153

Exports

comparison ranking: 41

Imports

comparison ranking: 45

Debt - external

comparison ranking: 10

Energy

Communications

Transportation

Airports

comparison ranking: 13

Heliports

comparison ranking: 40

Merchant marine

comparison ranking: total 86

Military and Security

Space

Terrorism

Transnational Issues

Contents