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  • Title: Republic of South Africa: unraveling the population puzzle. Country profile.
    Author: Spain D.
    Journal: Int Demogr; 1984 Jun; 3(6):4-11. PubMed ID: 12313172.
    Abstract:
    This discussion of the Republic of South Africa focuses on population growth, regions and cities, ethnicity and religion of the population, age distribution, housing and households, education, employment, income, and marketing and communication. South Africans, condemmed by the world community for their policy of racial discriminatioon, contend that outsiders fail to understand the system they legalized in 1948. Apartheid calls for developing different political institutions for blacks and whites in preparation for their eventual separation. According to this reasoning, black Africans are not considered permanent residents of South Africa, but rather of the "homelands" to which each tribal group has been assigned by the government. 4 homelands have been made independent, and if the remaining 6 become independent as scheduled, South Africa theoretically will no longer have any black citizens. Under this plan, nearly 90% of the current area of South Africa would go to whites, while the remaining 10% would be divided among the 10 homelands. The UN has condemmed the homelands policy, and no country has recognized their independence. By law South Africa has 4 distinct populations: Africans, whites, coloureds, and asians. Rhe combination of Afrikaners and British makes up the white population. Whites are in the minority and numbered only 4.7 million in 1983, or 15% of the total population. Since whites rule the country, their importance is far disproportionate to their numbers. There were 2.7 million coloureds in 1983, approximately 9% of all South Africans. Black africans, the single largest population group, numbered 22.7 million in 1983, or 73% of the total population. Blacks are divided in 10 subgroups corresponding to the 10 ethnicallyy based homelands. The largest groups are the Zulu (5.9 million in 1981) and the Xhosa (3.1 million). Population growth varies by race. The annual growth rate for the entire country was 2.4% in 1983, but for blacks it was 2.7% and for whites it was only 1.5%. The birthrate among whites in 1980 was 16.5 births/1000 whites compared with 40 births/1000 blacks. Immigration has played an important role in South Africa's white population growth. Net migration in 1981 was 33,000; 55% of new arrivals were from Europe and 40% were from other African countries. In 1980, just over half the population (53%) lived in urban areas. Approximately 90% of whites and Asians lived in urban areas, while 3/4 of coloureds and 38% of blacks were classified as urban. understanding South Africa's racial and ethnic divisions is the key to understanding the country. Political and social interaction across racial lines is forbidden. Economic relationships are strictly controlled by the passbrook system. The passbook, which must be carried by every black aged 16 and olfder, establishes a black's right to be in a particular area of the country. South Africa's population is fairly young due to a history of high fertility and high mortality among blacks, coloureds, and Asias. For the population as a whole, 38% were under age 15 in 1980 and 4% were aged 65 and older. Whites accounted for 22% and blacks 64% of the labor force in 1980. The government has tried to narrow the wage gap between white and black workers. In 1972 blacks earned only 15% of whites salaries; by 1981 black wages were 24% of white wages.
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