Background: Inhabitants have lived in South Africa for more than 100,000 years. After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch Settlers (the Boers) moved north to found their own republics. The discovery of diamonds and gold in the late 1800’s stimulates wealth and immigration to the county but it intensified the suppression of the native inhabitants. South Africa operated under apartheid rule until the 1990s ended the racist policy and ushered in black majority rule [0.2].

Geography: South Africa is located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa. The country is slightly less than twice the size of Texas at 1,219,912 square kilometers. South Africa surrounds all of Lesotho and almost all of Swaziland.

Climate
South Africa is mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days and cool nights but is prone to prolonged droughts.

Current Environmental Issues
Lack of important arterial rivers or lakes requires extensive water conservation and control measures. The growth of water usage is outpacing supply. Rivers are subject to pollution due to agricultural runoff and urban emissions. Acid rain results in air pollution and soil erosion results in desertification.

Elevation
Highest point: Njesuthi 2,408 meters
Lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 meters

Land boundaries
Bordering countries include Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Natural resources
Gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt, natural gas

Terrain
Vast interior plateau rimmed by rugged hills and narrow coastal plain

People

Population
The 2001 census states 44.8 million
Of the total 44.8 million people, 21.4 million (47.8%) are male and 23.4 million (52.2%) are female.

0–14 years: 29.5% (male 6,337,468; female 6,254,925)
15-64 years: 65.3% (male 13,898,269; female 14,017,559)
65 years and over: 5.2% (male 886,801; female 1,323,508)
(2004 est.)

Average life expectancy: 44.19 years

Ethnic groups: Black 75.2%, White 13.6%, Colored 8.6%, Indian 2.6%

Language
Eleven official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu

Fewer South Africans speak English and Afrikaans in their homes, with indigenous languages, particularly isiZulu and isiXhosa, being the dominant home languages of the population.

Government

South Africa is a constitutional democracy with a three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary. The national, provincial and local levels of government all have legislative and executive authority in their own spheres, and are defined in the Constitution as "distinctive, interdependent and interrelated".

Operating at both national and provincial levels are advisory bodies drawn from South Africa's traditional leaders.

It is a stated intention in the Constitution that the country be run on a system of co- operative governance [0.2].

Economy
Currency Rand (5.9975 ZAR = 1 USD)

Gross Domestic Product
Purchasing power parity - $456.7 billion
Real growth rate 1.9% (2003 est.)
GDP per capita purchasing power parity - $10,700

By sector (2003 est.):
Agriculture: 3.8%
Industry: 31%
Services: 65.2%

Industries
Mining (world’s largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs

Unemployment rate
31% (includes workers no longer looking for employment) (2003 est.)

Labor force
16.35 million economically active

Labor force – by occupation
Agriculture: 30%
Industry: 25%
Services: 45% (1999 est.)

State of the Economy
South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy and transport sectors; a stock exchange that ranks among the 10 largest in the world; and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. However, growth has not been strong enough to lower South Africa’s high unemployment rate; and daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era, especially poverty and lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups. High crime and HIV/AIDS infection rates also deter investment. South African economic policy is fiscally conservative, but pragmatic, focusing on targeting inflation and liberalizing trade as means to increase job growth and household income [0.1].