South Africa’s population is estimated to be 55.91-million of which 51% are female, according to Statistics South Africa’s mid-year calculations.

Announcing the figures at a media conference in Pretoria on Thursday, statistician general Pali Lehohla said migration is an important demographic process in shaping the age structure and distribution of the provincial population.

The largest share of South Africa’s population (24%) lives in Gauteng accounting for 13.5-million people. KwaZulu-Natal is the province with the second largest population, with 11.1-million people (19.9%).

With a population of approximately 1.19-million people (2.1%), Northern Cape remains the province with the smallest share of the South African population.

The figures also showed that about 30.1% of the population is aged younger than 15 years and approximately 8% (4.47-million) is 60 years or older.

Of those younger than 15 years, approximately 23% (3.86-million) live in KwaZulu-Natal and 20.4% (3.43-million) live in Gauteng. The highest percentage of people (26.1% or 1.17-million) aged 60 years and older live in Gauteng.

Like elsewhere in the world, the proportion of elderly persons aged 60 and older is increasing over time.

Migration

For the period 2011–2016, it is estimated that approximately 247 437 people will migrate from the Eastern Cape. Limpopo is estimated to experience an out-migration of nearly 305 030 people. During the same period, Gauteng and the Western Cape are estimated to experience an inflow of migrants of approximately 1 216 258 and 363 114 respectively.

Life expectancy Life expectancy at birth for 2016 is estimated at 59.7 years for males and 65.1 years for females.

The life expectancy for males dropped marginally from 60.6 years compared to 2015, but increased somewhat for females from 64.3 years.

The infant mortality rate for 2016 is estimated at 33.7 per 1 000 live births, slightly lower than the 34.4 per 1 000 births in 2015.

The estimated overall HIV prevalence rate is approximately 12.7% of the total South African population – up from 11.2% in 2015.

The total number of people living with HIV also increased from 6.19-million in 2015 to 7.03-million in 2016. For adults aged 15–49 years, an estimated 18.9% (up from 16.6% in 2015) of the population is HIV positive.