Northern Cape With a population of just more than 840 000 people, the Northern Cape has the lowest population in the country, the Census’96 figures have revealed. Of these, around 412 000 are male and 427 000 are female. The results represent the population of South Africa as on the night of 9 to 10 October 1996. The results of the latest census count conducted nationwide in 1996, were released by President Nelson Mandela and Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in Pretoria today. The figures reveal that at least 70% of the province’s population live in urban areas, mainly small towns, while around 30% live in non-urban areas. South Africa as a whole boasts a population of forty-and-a-half million people. This is a large number. If all people in South Africa took hands, they would circle the earth once and a bit. Around 33% of the Northern Cape's population are African/ Black, 52% are Coloured, 0,3% are Indian/Asian and 13% are White. The province’s Coloured population is the largest after that of the Western Cape. Among people aged 20 years and above, almost 21% have had no schooling at all, whilst more than 20% have had some primary education. Only 5,8% of the province's people have tertiary qualifications. More than 11% have a matric, almost 31% have had some secondary education and around 9% have completed their primary education. Of all the people in the Northern Cape, 2,2% have sight disabilities, 0, 7% have hearing difficulties, 1,1% have physical disabilities, 0,5% have mental disabilities and 0,3% suffer from more than one disability. Water is available to almost 50% of the population in the form of water piped to their dwelling. The next most used source of water supply is piped water on-site or in yards, which is available to around 33% of the population. |