←The globe
ZAF · Southern Africa · Africa
🇿🇦
South Africa
Republic of South Africa
Quick facts
- Capital
- Pretoria
- Population
- 55 m
- Area
- 1,221,037 km²
- Region
- Southern Africa
- Languages
- Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele
- Currency
- South African rand (R)
- Demonym
- South African
- UN member
- Yes
How South Africa compares
Economy size$401 B
37th of 178 worldwide · 1st of 5 in Southern Africa
Income per person$6,267
96th of 178 worldwide · 2nd of 5 in Southern Africa
Life expectancy66.3 yrs
146th of 179 worldwide · 3rd of 5 in Southern Africa
Internet access78.4%
97th of 179 worldwide · 1st of 5 in Southern Africa
Military spending$2.8 B
55th of 163 worldwide · 1st of 5 in Southern Africa
Highlights
GDP
$401 B
World Bank2024
Gross Domestic Product — the total market value of all goods and services produced in a year, at current prices.
GDP per capita
$6,267
World Bank2024
GDP divided by population — a rough measure of average economic output per person.
Life expectancy
66.3 yrs
World Bank2024
Years a newborn would live if current mortality patterns held throughout its life.
R&D spending
0.6%
Gross expenditure on research & development as a share of GDP.
Researchers (per million)
444
Full-time-equivalent researchers per million people.
Resource rents
7.3%
World Bank2021
Total natural-resource rents (oil, gas, mineral, forest) as a share of GDP.
The history journey
From the cradle of humankind and the early San, Khoekhoe and Bantu-speaking kingdoms, through Dutch and British colonisation, the trauma of apartheid, and the birth of a non-racial democracy in 1994.
Pilot a cinematic, sourced journey through its eras — moment by moment.