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South Africa — Population
Population, Total for South Africa, 1960–2025.
Latest value · 2025
64.75 million
Population, Total · people · +293.8% since 1960
Population for South Africa was 64.75 million in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 66 years, from 1960 to 2025. The latest year is also the highest value on record for this series. The lowest was 16.44 million in 1960 (about 3.9× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to 2.13% per year.
South Africa ranks 24 of 217 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 11%. The median for Sub-Saharan Africa is 15.10 million, so South Africa sits above it. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved up 14%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
64.75 million
First (1960)
16.44 million
Change
+293.8%
Highest
64.75 million
in 2025
Lowest
16.44 million
in 1960
Average
40.26 million
Annual growth (CAGR)
2.13%
Years of data
66
Recent years
| Year | people |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 64,747,319 |
| 2024 | 64,007,187 |
| 2023 | 63,212,384 |
| 2022 | 62,378,410 |
| 2021 | 61,502,603 |
| 2020 | 60,562,381 |
| 2019 | 59,587,885 |
| 2018 | 58,613,001 |
| 2017 | 57,635,162 |
| 2016 | 57,259,551 |
| 2015 | 56,723,537 |
| 2014 | 55,594,838 |
Reading this correctly. Total population based on the de facto definition, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. Figures are in people. Comparing this series with a different measure of the same concept (for example a nominal figure against a purchasing-power-parity figure) will give misleading results.
Related data
Source. World Bank Open Data, indicator
SP.POP.TOTL — Population, Total. Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Values are reproduced as published; this page computes the summary statistics (change, CAGR, extremes) from the underlying annual series. View the original dataset on data.worldbank.org.