Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a Governor-General. Prime minister : Peter O'Neill
President: Jacob Zuma
Population
6,310,129
48,810,427
Life Expectancy
66.460 years
49.410 years
Capital City
Port Moresby
Pretoria (administrative capital)
Largest city
Port Moresby (population: 283,733)
Cape Town (population: 3,433,440)
Human Development Index
0.516
0.67
GDP per capita
$2,600 US
$11,100 US
Literacy Rate
57.3%
86.4%
Corruption Perception Index
2
4.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
0.9%
33.9%
Wealthiest Citizens
NA
Nicky Oppenheimer & family ($5.0bn US)
Unemployment Rate
1.900%
24.900%
Death Penalty
Abolished in practice
Abolished
Political System
constitutional parliamentary democracy
republic
Independence date
16 September 1975 (from the Australian-administered UN trusteeship)
31 May 1910 (Union of South Africa formed from four British colonies: Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange Free State); 31 May 1961 (republic declared) 27 April 1994 (majority rule)
Religions
Roman Catholic 27%, Evangelical Lutheran 19.5%, United Church 11.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 10%, Pentecostal 8.6%, Evangelical Alliance 5.2%, Anglican 3.2%, Baptist 2.5%, other Protestant 8.9%, Bahai 0.3%, indigenous beliefs and other 3.3% (2000 census)
Zion Christian 11.1%, Pentecostal/Charismatic 8.2%, Catholic 7.1%, Methodist 6.8%, Dutch Reformed 6.7%, Anglican 3.8%, Muslim 1.5%, other Christian 36%, other 2.3%, unspecified 1.4%, none 15.1% (2001 census)
Languages
Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2%, Motu spoken in Papua region note: 820 indigenous languages spoken (over one-tenth of the world's total)
IsiZulu 23.8%, IsiXhosa 17.6%, Afrikaans 13.3%, Sepedi 9.4%, English 8.2%, Setswana 8.2%, Sesotho 7.9%, Xitsonga 4.4%, other 7.2% (2001 census)
