Western Cape - Demographics

Demographics

The 2011 Census recorded the population of the Western Cape as 5,822,734 people living in 1,634,000 households. As the province covers an area of 129,462 square kilometres (49,986 sq mi), the population density was 45.0 inhabitants per square kilometre (117 /sq mi) and the household density 12.6 per square kilometre (33 /sq mi).

48.8% of the people of the Western Cape described themselves as "Coloured", while 32.8% described themselves as "Black African", 15.7% as "White", and 1.0% as "Indian or Asian". Afrikaans is the plurality language, spoken as the first language of 49.7% of the province's population. IsiXhosa is the first language of 24.7% of the population, while English is the first language of 20.2%.

Age distribution in the province is spread out, with 25.1% under the age of 15, 18.3% from 15 to 24, 32.7% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 5.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 28 years. For every 100 women there are 96 men.

2.7% of residents aged 20 and over have received no schooling, 10.7% have had only some primary, 5.6% have completed primary school but gone no further, 38.1% have had some secondary education without finishing Grade 12, 28.1% have finished Grade 12 but gone no further, and 14.4% have higher education beyond the secondary level. Overall, 42.5% of residents have completed high school.

89.6% of households in the province have a flush toilet and 89.9% have refuse removed by the local authority at least once a week. 75.1% of households have piped tap water inside the dwelling, while a further 13.3% have piped water on their property; 10.7% receive piped water at a community tap, while 0.9% have no access to piped water.

86.9% of households use electricity for cooking, and 93.4% use it for lighting. 88.9% of households have a cellphone and 30.8% have a landline telephone, while 85.5% own a television, 80.5% own a refrigerator, and 34.4% own a computer. 43.7% of households have access to the Internet.

The average annual household income was R143,460, the second-highest in the country after Gauteng. As of September 2012, 69.2% of the population aged 15–64 are economically active, and of these 25.4% are unemployed. Overall, 51.6% of the working-age population are employed.