South Africa’s population is estimated to be at 54-million with the life expectancy of the population at 61-years of age, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) announced on Thursday.

Stats SA released the Mid-year Population Estimates stated that life expectancy has increased from an estimated 52-years in 2005 to 61-years in 2014.

The increased life expectancy can be attributed to the fact that the number of Aids related deaths is estimated to have decreased from 363 910 deaths in 2005 to 171 733 deaths in 2014.

“This can be associated with the increased rollout of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Second, the infant mortality rate (IMR) has fallen from an estimated 58 infant deaths per 1 000 live births, in 2002, to 34 infant deaths per 1 000 live births, in 2014. The decline in IMR points to an improvement in the general health & living standards of the population,” noted the report.

According to the report, the country’s population experienced an estimated net increase of 844 000 people (a 1.58%) growth from July 2013 to July 2014.

The report showed that black Africans constitute approximately 80% of the total population, while the white population was estimated at 4.55-million with the coloured population at 4.77-million. The Indian/Asian population was at 1.34-million.     

“Just over 51% (27.64-million) of the population is female,” noted the report that comes out annually.

In terms of provinces, Gauteng remained as the most populous province with almost 13-million inhabitants followed by KwaZulu-Natal with a population of almost 10.7-million. The two provinces account for about 44% of the population in the country. The Northern Cape remained as the least populated province with just under 1.2-million people.

According to the report the overall number of deaths in the country has been decreasing from an estimated 716 083 deaths in 2005 to an estimated 551 289 deaths occurring in 2014.

The report found that about 30% of the population is younger than 15 and that 4.54-million is 60-years old or older. Of those younger than 15-years approximately 3.66-million live in KwaZulu-Natal and 3.05-million live in Gauteng.

“The proportion of elderly aged 60 and older is increasing over time,” noted the report.

The estimated overall HIV prevalence rate is approximately 10.2% of the total South African population. The total number of people living with HIV is estimated at approximately 5.51-million in 2014. For adults aged 15–49 years, an estimated 16.8% of the population is HIV positive.

For the 2011-2016 period it is estimated that approximately 241 758 people will migrate from the Eastern Cape, while Limpopo is estimated to experience an out-migration of nearly 303 101 people.  During the same period, Gauteng and Western Cape are estimated to experience an inflow of migrants of approximately 1 106 375 and 344 830, respectively.