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Republic of South Africa
National name: Republic of South Africa
President: Thabo Mbeki (1999)
Area: 471,008 sq mi (1,219,912 sq km)
Note: We give
the information above in the Christian Personals Primer
so that you will have a little background on the country before
you contact a perspective mate, just in case you don't know the
basics. Perhaps this info will give you something to talk about
Population (2004 est.): 42,718,530 (growth rate: –0.2%);
birth rate: 18.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 62.2/1000; life
expectancy: 44.2; density per sq mi: 91
Administrative capital (2003 est.): Pretoria,
1,541,300 (metro. area), 1,249,700 (city proper); Legislative
capital and largest city: Cape Town, 3,140,600 (metro.
area), 2,733,000 (city proper); Judicial capital:
Bloemfontein, 378,000. No decision has been made to relocate the
seat of government. South Africa is demarcated into nine
provinces, consisting of the Gauteng, Northern Province,
Mpumalanga, North West, KwaZulu/Natal, Eastern Cape, Western
Cape, Northern Cape, and Free State. Each province has its own
capital
Other large cities: Durban/Pinetown, 2,396,100;
Johannesburg, 1,675,200; East Rand, 1,378,792 (part of
Johannesburg metro. area, 2000 est.)
Monetary unit: Rand
Languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi,
Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu (all 11
official)
Ethnicity/race: black 75.2%, white 13.6%,
Colored 8.6%, Indian 2.6%
Religions: Christian 68% (includes most whites
and Coloreds, about 60% of blacks, and about 40% of Indians),
indigenous beliefs and animist 28.5%, Islam 2%, Hindu 1.5% (60%
of Indians)
Literacy rate: 86% (2003 est.)Communications:
Telephones: main lines in use: more than 5 million (2001);
mobile cellular: 7.06 million (2001). Radio broadcast
stations: AM 14, FM 347 (plus 243 repeaters), shortwave 1
(1998). Radios: 17 million (2001). Television
broadcast stations: 556 (plus 144 network repeaters) (1997).
Televisions: 6 million (2000). Internet Service
Providers (ISPs): 150 (2001). Internet users: 3.068
million (2002).
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