South Africa is located at the very southern tip of the
African
continent with the Indian
Ocean to the east and
the Atlantic
Ocean to the west. It shares borders with
Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique,
and Swaziland while completely surrounding Lesotho. South
Africa is slightly less than twice the size of Texas.
South Africa has a republic form of government with the president being elected for a five year term with eligibility for a second term. The administrative capital of the country is Pretoria; however, the legislative center is in Cape Town while the judicial center is located in Johannesburg. The currency is the Rand.
The July 2006 estimate of the population was 44,187,637; down from a July 2005 estimate of 44,344,136. South Africa has a negative population growth due to high infant mortality, shortened life expectancy due to AIDS, and migration out of the country. The current life expectancy of South Africans is 42.73 years.
There are multiple languages spoken in South Africa; the three most common are IsiZulu, IsiXhosa and Afrikaans. Additional languages spoken include Sepedi, English, Setswana, Sesotho, and Xitsonga. South Africa has an 86.4 percent literacy rate of people over the age of 15.
Along with multiple languages, South Africa has multiple religions; the three most popular are Zion Christian, Pentecostal/Charismatic, and Catholic. According to the 2001 census, 15.1 percent of the population indicate that they have no religion.
South Africa is the world's largest producer of platinum, gold, and chromium.
Web Sites
- Government Web Site
- CIA: The World Factbook
- U.S. Department of State
- Library of Congress Country Studies
- BBC News Country Profile
- South African Tourism
Catalog
Search the library's catalog for South Africa.
Databases
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