Province a magnet for migrants

THE WESTERN Cape still experiences the second-highest migration rate in the country, after Gauteng, the latest population figures from Statistics SA have revealed.

Since 2011, 363 114 migrants are estimated to have arrived in the province – the majority from Gauteng, followed by the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

But the Western Cape has also experienced an outflow of around 194 328 migrants over the same period. South Africa’s population continues to edge upwards, with Stats SA estimating the mid-year population to be 55.91 million.

This is an increase of 1.62 percent since last year. More than half the population – 28.53 million is female.

Life expectancy for 2016 is estimated at 59.7 years for males and 65.1 years for females. The infant mortality rate is 33.7 per 1 000 live births.

With 6.2 million people, the Western Cape has the fourth-largest population, after Gauteng (13.4 million), KwaZulu-Natal (11 million) and the Eastern Cape (7 million). The Northern Cape remains the province with the smallest population, of only 1.1 million.

The largest portion of the Western Cape population is between the ages of 25 and 29. The mid-year population estimates released by Statistician General Pali Lehohla, yesterday, also revealed that 13 in every 100 South Africans are living with HIV.

The HIV prevalence rate is at approximately 12.7 percent, with an estimated 18.9 percent of adults between the ages 15 and 49 infected. Approximately one-fifth of South African women in their reproductive ages are HIV-positive.