title: 1996 South African census
text: # 1996 South African census
  
  The National Census of 1996 was the 1st comprehensive national census of the Republic of South Africa, after the end of Apartheid. It undertook to enumerate every person present in South Africa on the census night at a cost of R 419,000,000.
  
  ## Results
  
  ### Demographics
  
  Population change in the South Africa by race :
  
  | Rank | Race | 1991 Census | 1996 Census | Difference | Percent difference |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | 1 | Black African | 21,646,000 | 31,127,631 | 9,481,631 | 43.8% |
  | 2 | White | 5,068,000 | 4,434,697 | 633,303 | 12.4% |
  | 3 | Coloured | 3,286,000 | 3,600,446 | 314,446 | 9.5% |
  | 4 | Asian or Indian | 987,000 | 1,045,596 | 58,596 | 5.9% |
  | Total population | Total population | 30,987,000 | 40,583,573 | 9,596,573 | 30.9% |
  
  Population group by province (percentages) :
  
  | First language | Eastern Cape | Free State | Gauteng | KwaZulu-Natal | Mpumalanga | Northern Cape | Northern Province | North West | Western Cape | South Africa |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Black African | 86.4 | 84.4 | 70 | 81.7 | 89.2 | 33.2 | 96.7 | 91.2 | 20.9 | 76.7 |
  | Coloured | 7.4 | 3 | 3.8 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 51.8 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 54.2 | 8.9 |
  | Asian or Indian | 0.3 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 9.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1 | 2.6 |
  | White | 5.2 | 12 | 23.2 | 6.6 | 9 | 13.3 | 2.4 | 6.6 | 20.8 | 10.9 |
  | Unspecified/Other | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 0.9 |
  | Total | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
  
  Population change in the South Africa by language :
  
  | Rank | First language | 1996 Census | Percent Difference |
  | - | - | - | - |
  | 1 | IsiZulu | 9,200,144 | % |
  | 2 | IsiXhosa | 7,196,118 | % |
  | 3 | Afrikaans | 5,811,547 | % |
  | 4 | Sepedi | 3,695,846 | % |
  | 5 | Setswana | 3,301,774 | % |
  | 6 | English | 3,457,467 | % |
  | 7 | Sesotho | 3,104,197 | % |
  | 8 | Xitsonga | 1,756,105 | % |
  | 9 | SiSwati | 1,013,193 | % |
  | 10 | Tshivenda | 876,409 | % |
  | 11 | IsiNdebele | 586,961 | % |
  | 12 | Other | 228,275 | % |
  
  Population change in the South Africa by gender :
  
  | Rank | Gender | 1991 Census | 1996 Census | Difference | Percent difference |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | 1 | Female | 15,507,000 | 21,062,685 | 5,755,685 | 37.1% |
  | 2 | Male | 15,480,000 | 19,520,887 | 4,040,887 | 26.1% |
  
  Population change in the South Africa by province :
  
  | Rank | Province | 1996 Census | Percent difference |
  | - | - | - | - |
  | 1 | KwaZulu-Natal | 8,417,021 | % |
  | 2 | Gauteng | 7,348,423 | % |
  | 3 | Eastern Cape | 6,302,525 | % |
  | 4 | Limpopo | 4,929,368 | % |
  | 5 | Western Cape | 3,956,875 | % |
  | 6 | North West | 3,354,825 | % |
  | 7 | Mpumalanga | 2,800,711 | % |
  | 8 | Free State | 2,633,504 | % |
  | 9 | Northern Cape | 840,321 | % |
  | Total population | Total population | 40,583,573 | % |
  
  Home language by province (percentages) :
  
  | First language | Eastern Cape | Free State | Gauteng | KwaZulu-Natal | Mpumalanga | Northern Cape | Northern Province | North West | Western Cape | South Africa |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Afrikaans | 9.6 | 14.5 | 16.7 | 1.6 | 8.3 | 69.3 | 2.2 | 7.5 | 59.2 | 14.4 |
  | English | 3.7 | 1.3 | 13.0 | 15.8 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 20.3 | 8.6 |
  | IsiNdebele | 0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 0 | 12.5 | 0 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
  | IsiXhosa | 83.8 | 9.4 | 7.5 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 6.3 | 0.2 | 54.4 | 19.1 | 17.9 |
  | IsiZulu | 0.4 | 4.8 | 21.5 | 79.8 | 25.4 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 0.1 | 22.9 |
  | Sepedi | 0 | 0.2 | 9.5 | 0 | 10.5 | 0 | 52.7 | 4.0 | 0 | 9.2 |
  | Sesotho | 2.2 | 62.1 | 13.1 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 5.1 | 0.4 | 7.7 |
  | SiSwati | 0 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 30.0 | 0 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0 | 2.5 |
  | Setswana | 0 | 6.5 | 7.9 | 0 | 2.7 | 19.9 | 1.4 | 67.2 | 0.1 | 8.2 |
  | Tshivenda | 0 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 0 | 0.1 | 0 | 15.5 | 0.4 | 0 | 2.2 |
  | Xitsonga | 0 | 0.5 | 5.3 | 0 | 3.5 | 0 | 22.6 | 4.7 | 0 | 4.4 |
  | Other | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
  | Total | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
  
  ### Employment
  
  Economically active population by province amongst those aged 15 – 65 years :
  
  | First language | Eastern Cape | Free State | Gauteng | KwaZulu-Natal | Mpumalanga | Northern Cape | Northern Province | North West | Western Cape | South Africa |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Employed | 786 818 | 701 175 | 2 564 243 | 1 570 573 | 605 925 | 215 523 | 570 129 | 725 287 | 1 374 174 | 9 113 847 |
  | Unemployed | 742 427 | 299 948 | 1 007 766 | 1 008 944 | 297 290 | 86 060 | 486 554 | 443 546 | 299 114 | 4 671 647 |
  | Total | 1 529 244 | 1 001 122 | 3 572 009 | 2 579 517 | 903 215 | 301 583 | 1 056 683 | 1 168 833 | 1 673 288 | 13 785 493 |
  | Unemployed as percentage of total | 48% | 29% | 28% | 39% | 32% | 28% | 46% | 37% | 17% | 33% |
  