Basic data on South Africa

South Africa is a stable democracy. In contrast to its apartheid predecessor, the ANC Government has successfully kept its financial house in order. The underlying macro-economic data is excellent. However, inequality has increased: a large portion of the black majority population still lives in poverty. Unemployment is much too high, despite industry being in need of skilled labour. Nowhere else is there a higher number of HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients. Government is undertaking enormous efforts to improve basic services to the population (housing, health, education, water and electricity). Overcoming poverty, however, remains the paramount challenge.

Surface area of the country: 1,219,912 km2
Capital: Pretoria (seat of government)
Population: 49.32 million
Official languages: All of the 11 national languages are official languages, the most frequent being isiZulu (23.8%), isiXhosa (17.6%), ÜÜans (13.3%), Sepedi (9.4%), English (8.2%), Setswana (8.2%).
Government: Parliamentary democracy with an executive president and federal elements. The President is Mr Jacob Zuma, African National Congress (ANC).
Gross Domestic Product: 283 billion US$ (2008) Human Development Index: Ranking number 129 of 182 (Germany: 22 of 182; 2009) Child mortality (under the age of 5): 6.9%
HIV&AIDS-infected persons: 10.9% (2008)
Income below US$ 2 per day: 42.9% of population (2000)