Northern Province The Northern Province has the most acute education problem in the country. Among people aged 20 years and above, almost 37% of the population has had no schooling at all. 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 11,9% of the Northern Province’s population live in urban areas, while around 89% live in non-urban areas. This is the largest non-urban population in South Africa. 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. Only 12% of the province's people have had some primary education and a mere 4,5% have a tertiary qualification. More than 14% of people in the Northern Province have a matric, while around 27 % have had some secondary education and 5,9% have completed their primary education. With about 4,9 million people, the Northern Province is the fourth most populated province in the country, the Census’96 figures have revealed. Of these, around 2,3 million are male and around 2,7 million are female. Population distribution figures by groups in the Northern Province show that more than 96% of its people are African/Black. The rest of the figures are: Indians/Asians at 0,1%, Coloureds at 0,2% and Whites at 2,4%. Piped water in their dwelling is available to only 17% of the Northern Province's population. A large 40% of the population rely on public taps for their water supply, while dams/rivers/streams/springs are the next most used water source with at least 11% of the population relying on it. |