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South Africa

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Did you know

South Africa has three capitals: Pretoria (administrative), Cape Town (legislative) and Bloemfontein (judicial). (source)

Elders in numbers

of people are 65 or older
6.9%
people aged 65 or older
4.5M
will be 65 or older in 2050
11.3%
is how long people live after 60, on average
18.3 years
of people 65+ live alone
14.9%
women 14.8%, men 15.1%
of people 65+ live in collective quarters: care homes, hospitals, hostels and the like
4%

Sources: World Bank, 2025; World Bank projection for 2050; WHO, 2023; UN, 2022; UN, 2011 census

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Languages

30 languages, 11 of them endangered

  • NǁngCritically endangered
  • XiriCritically endangered
  • KhweDefinitely endangered
  • TswapongDefinitely endangered
  • BirwaVulnerable
  • Ekoka !KungVulnerable
  • KgalagadiVulnerable
  • KhoekhoeVulnerable
  • PhuthiVulnerable
  • Sumayela NdebeleVulnerable
  • West !XoonVulnerable
  • Afrikaans
Show all 30
  • Angloromani
  • Eastern Yiddish
  • English
  • Haiǁom
  • Kalanga
  • Oorlams
  • Pedi
  • Ronga
  • Sesotho
  • Shona
  • South African Sign Language
  • Swazi
  • Tsonga
  • Tswa
  • Tswana
  • Venda
  • Xhosa
  • Zulu

Languages and their status: Glottolog v5.3, CC BY 4.0. Names: Wikidata.

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