South Africa
|
| Basic Facts |
| Country name |
conventional long form: Republic of South Africa
conventional short form: South Africa former: Union of South Africa abbreviation: RSA |
| Gevernment type | republic |
| Capital |
name: Pretoria (administrative capital)
geographic coordinates: 29 12 S, 28 10 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) note: Cape Town (legislative capital); Johannesburg(judicial capital) |
| Flag description | two equal width horizontal bands of red (top) and blue separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal Y, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side; the Y embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes |
| Currency | rand (ZAR) |
| Internet country code | .za |
| Ports and terminals | Cape Town, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Richards Bay, Saldanha Bay |
| Agriculture products | corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; beef, poultry, mutton, wool, dairy products |
| Industries | mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textiles, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs, commercial ship repair |
| Geography |
| Location | Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of Africa |
| Coordinates | 29 00 S, 24 00 E |
| Continent | Africa |
| Area |
total: 1,219,912 sq km
land: 1,219,912 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Prince Edward Islands (Marion Island and Prince Edward Island) |
| Boundaries |
total: 4,862 km
border countries: Botswana 1,840 km, Lesotho 909 km, Mozambique 491 km, Namibia 967 km, Swaziland 430 km, Zimbabwe 225 km |
| Coastline | 2,798 km |
| Climate | mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days, cool nights |
| Terrain | vast interior plateau rimmed by rugged hills and narrow coastal plain |
| Natural resources | gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt, natural gas |
| Natural hazards | prolonged droughts |
| People |
| Population | 44,187,637
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.) |
| Ethnic groups | black African 79%, white 9.6%, colored 8.9%, Indian/Asian 2.5% (2001 census) |
| Religions | Zion Christian 11.1%, Pentecostal/Charismatic 8.2%, Catholic 7.1%, Methodist 6.8%, Dutch Reformed 6.7%, Anglican 3.8%, other Christian 36%, Islam 1.5%, other 2.3%, unspecified 1.4%, none 15.1% (2001 census) |
| Languages | IsiZulu 23.8%, IsiXhosa 17.6%, Afrikaans 13.3%, Sepedi 9.4%, English 8.2%, Setswana 8.2%, Sesotho 7.9%, Xitsonga 4.4%, other 7.2% (2001 census) |
