| In 1996, the total population of South
Africa was over 40 million (Central Statistical Services, 1997). It is estimated that some
4 million people live within the Western Cape Province, with 3,5 million living in urban
places (Central Statistical Services, 1996). The Western Cape Province has the second
highest percentage urbanised population (almost 89%) in South Africa after Gauteng
Province. In 1996 the population of
the CMA was approximately 2.56 million (Central Statistical Services, 1997). Natural
population growth, combined with urbanization, gave rise to a population growth rate of
approximately 2% per annum (Bekker and van Zyl, 1998). The interim population estimate for
1998 is 2.9 million (CMC, 1999). This figure is based on the 1996 census data, using
current variables.
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| Population composition |
| The CMA population is
comprised of three main population groupings: coloured that are predominately Afrikaans
speaking; a group of Afrikaans and English speaking whites; and, a mostly Xhosa-speaking
black population. Figure 1 indicates the CMA population by racial
group in 1980 and 1996. Racial groupings are used here as they reflect socio-economic
trends and inequalities that are identified later in this section. |
| Population distribution |
| The general distribution of
people in the CMA by local metropolitan council areas is shown in Table
1. Approximately 68% of the population is found in the City of Cape Town and City of
Tygerberg, with the City of Cape Town experiencing the highest population density. |
|
| Figure
1 |
| Cape Metropolitan
Population by racial group (Source: Patel, 1984 and Van Zyl, 1995) |
 |
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|
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|
LOCAL AUTHORITY |
PERCENTAGE POPULATION |
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL AREA |
| Blaauwberg
Municipality |
4.6% |
25.6%
(551 km2 ) |
| City of Cape Town |
36.6% |
13%
(280 km2) |
| City of Tygerberg |
32.3% |
19.7%
(423 km2) |
| Helderberg
Municipality |
4.8% |
15.2%
(328 km2) |
| Oostenberg
Municipality |
9.3% |
7.5%
(162 km2) |
| South Peninsula
Municipality |
12.3% |
18.9%
(407 km2) |
| Cape
Metropolitan Council (total) |
100% |
100% (2 151 km2) |
|
(Source: CMC, 1997a)
|
| Age-Sex structure |
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| The following population statistics are based on the 1996 Census. The
proportion of the CMA population over the age of 64 was estimated to be over 5%. Overall,
the CMA has a relatively young population with about 28% under the age of 15 (CMC, 1999).
Over 66% of the population make up the potential labour force, falling between the ages 16
and 64. The median age of the population was 26. Figure 2 shows
the age and sex distribution of the CMA population. The dependency ratio for the CMA was 52. This means that for every 100
economically active persons, there are 52 dependents (younger than 15 years and older than
65 years). The index of aging for the CMA was 22, indicating that for every 22 persons
above the age of 65, there are 100 people in the 0-14 year category. There were 94 males
for every 100 females, making the gender ratio 94.
|
| Figure 2 |
Back to top |
Percentage distribution of population by gender and age (based on
the 1996 Census) |
|
(Source:
CMC, 1999) |
Back to top |
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