Sex
Female
27.0%
Male
73.0%
← Statistics
GDP (current US$)427,184,325,997.31 USD2025 GDP per capita (current US$)6,597.71 USD2025 Unemployment (% of labour force)32.39 %2025 Personal remittances received (US$)1,004,741,847.38 USD2025 Personal remittances received (% of GDP)0.24 %2025
Population, total64,747,319.00 people2025 Population density52.11 people/km22023
Net migration146,370.00 people2025 International migrant stock, total2,631,100.00 people2024 International migrant stock (% of population)4.10 %2024
Asylum decisions - recognised2,096.00 people2025 Asylum decisions - rejected10,033.00 people2025 Asylum decisions - otherwise closed10,068.00 people2025 Asylum decisions - total22,197.00 people2025
Returned refugees337.00 people2025 Resettlement arrivals10.00 people1998
Life expectancy at birth, total (years)66.31 years2024 Current health expenditure (% of GDP)8.91 %2023 Primary completion rate, total (% of relevant age group)95.33 %2023 Gini index54.10 2022 Poverty headcount ratio at $2.15 a day (% of population)17.40 %2022
Sources & notes
Country profile
South Africa
ZA · ZAF · Sub-Saharan AfricaA consolidated migration profile for South Africa: who arrives, who leaves, how many people are hosted or displaced, and the national context behind those numbers. Every figure below is a reported value from an official source — nothing is estimated or filled in.
CapitalPretoria
RegionSub-Saharan Africa
SubregionSub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)
Population64,747,319
Refugees hosted
55,177
People protected here
Refugees from here
—
Fled abroad
Migrants living here
2,631,100
Foreign-born stock
Net migration
146,370
Net inflow
Asylum-seekers
82,358
Awaiting a decision
Reporting year
2025
Most recent data
Latest figures · 2025
Key migration numbers
The headline counts for the most recent reporting year. Refugees hosted are people this country protects; asylum-seekers are still awaiting a decision; applications are new asylum claims lodged during the year.
2025Reporting year
55,177Refugees hosted
82,358Asylum-seekers
5,324Applications (year)
Migration balance
Annual estimatesIncoming vs outgoing
Net migration is arrivals minus departures over the year. Positive means more people moved in than out. Migrant stock is the total foreign-born people living here now.
Net migration (year)146,370Net inflow
Migrants living here2,631,100Migrant stock
Missing / dead migrants
No data available
IOM Missing Migrants ProjectHistorical series
Statistics
Recorded migrant, refugee and asylum populations over time. Each line is one category; gaps mean a year the source did not report a figure (the line bridges the gap rather than dropping to zero).
Population profileSex, age, religion & more
Sex, age, religion & more
How the population breaks down across reported dimensions, grouped by the year each figure was reported (most recent first). Bars show each group’s share of the total; where only headcounts were published, the raw number is shown instead.
Religion
National sharesReligious make-up over time
Share of the population by faith across the recorded years. Each line is a stored national value; nothing is estimated.
Christian
Muslim
Jewish
Unaffiliated
Other
Places of worship
Recorded countsPlaces of worship over time
No places-of-worship counts are recorded for this country yet. See the Places of worship page for the full picture.
See the full places-of-worship timeline for this country → · browse individual places →
Displaced population by age cohort for the most recent reported year. Age is summed across sexes in the source data, so this is a single series per cohort — not a male/female split.
Displaced population by sex over the reported years, stacked so the top line reads as the total.
Age
0-4
0.4%
12-17
4.7%
18-59
90.5%
5-11
3.0%
60+
1.4%
Sex
Female
27.1%
Male
72.9%
Age
0-4
0.4%
12-17
4.6%
18-59
90.4%
5-11
3.3%
60+
1.2%
Sex
Female
26.9%
Male
73.1%
Age
0-4
0.2%
12-17
4.6%
18-59
91.0%
5-11
3.0%
60+
1.2%
Sex
Female
27.3%
Male
72.7%
Age
0-4
0.1%
12-17
4.7%
18-59
90.7%
5-11
3.4%
60+
1.1%
Sex
Female
25.0%
Male
75.0%
Age
0-4
0.1%
12-17
3.8%
18-59
92.0%
5-11
3.2%
60+
0.9%
Sex
Female
24.9%
Male
75.1%
Age
0-4
0.5%
12-17
3.6%
18-59
91.2%
5-11
4.0%
60+
0.7%
Sex
Female
25.1%
Male
74.3%
Unknown
0.6%
Sex
Female
17.6%
Male
32.4%
Unknown
50.0%
Sex
Female
24.4%
Male
57.3%
Unknown
18.3%
Sex
Female
11.0%
Male
67.8%
Unknown
21.2%
Sex
Female
0.4%
Male
2.5%
Unknown
97.1%
Sex
Female
7.1%
Male
13.5%
Unknown
79.4%
Age
0-4
1.5%
12-17
2.7%
18-59
13.2%
5-11
3.1%
60+
0.0%
Sex
Female
9.4%
Male
14.9%
Unknown
75.7%
Age
0-4
1.7%
12-17
3.0%
18-59
16.3%
5-11
3.4%
60+
0.0%
Sex
Female
18.0%
Male
32.1%
Unknown
49.9%
Age
0-4
2.9%
12-17
4.9%
18-59
36.4%
5-11
5.8%
60+
0.0%
Country contextNational indicators
National indicators
Economy
Population
Migration
Asylum decisions
Durable solutions
Other
ContextMigration & quality of life
Migration & quality of life
These charts place migration next to quality-of-life indicators over time. Correlation is not causation — a relationship here does not prove migration caused the change, or that a change caused the migration.
Economy
World BankGross domestic product
GDP (current US$)
$427.18B
Reported 2025
GDP per capita (current US$)
$6,598
Reported 2025
Migrant stock as a share of the population (left axis, in percent) shown against life expectancy (right axis, in years) over the years.
Each point is one year: migrant share of population (x, in percent) versus life expectancy (y, in years).
Public safetyRecorded crime
Not migrant offending
Recorded crime
National crime figures for context only — they describe the whole resident population and are not a measure of migrant offending.
Recorded crime by type
rate / 100k where available| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 12.20 | |
| Homicide | 43.72 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 10.28 | |
| Homicide | 40.94 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 32.98 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 8.78 | |
| Homicide | 35.79 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 9.17 | |
| Homicide | 35.87 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 9.86 | |
| Homicide | 35.28 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 8.95 | |
| Homicide | 33.21 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 32.92 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 32.03 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 31.13 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 30.15 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 8.74 | |
| Homicide | 29.35 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 10.10 | |
| Homicide | 30.36 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 9.66 | |
| Homicide | 32.41 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 9.58 | |
| Homicide | 35.38 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 10.18 | |
| Homicide | 36.42 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 10.46 | |
| Homicide | 38.21 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 37.44 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 38.36 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 40.87 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 44.88 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 45.00 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 46.14 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 48.37 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 54.36 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 53.62 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 56.45 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 60.34 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| Homicide | 59.01 |
| Crime | Rate / 100k |
|---|---|
| 361.00 |
Public expenditureExpenses
Expenses
Migration-related public spending only — Official Development Assistance received and provided (which, for donor countries, includes in-donor refugee costs), in US dollars, stacked so the top line reads as the combined total for each year.
| Year | Amount (USD) | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $1,506,946,411 | ODA received |
| 2022 | $1,029,895,508 | ODA received |
| 2021 | $1,042,872,803 | ODA received |
| 2020 | $1,204,524,048 | ODA received |
| 2019 | $965,903,198 | ODA received |
| 2018 | $920,971,069 | ODA received |
| 2017 | $1,014,808,899 | ODA received |
| 2016 | $1,180,279,663 | ODA received |
| 2015 | $1,420,273,682 | ODA received |
| 2014 | $1,077,397,217 | ODA received |
| 2013 | $1,295,342,285 | ODA received |
| 2012 | $1,065,828,979 | ODA received |
| 2011 | $1,396,965,454 | ODA received |
| 2010 | $1,025,280,029 | ODA received |
| 2009 | $1,074,176,392 | ODA received |
| 2008 | $1,114,911,743 | ODA received |
| 2007 | $795,124,512 | ODA received |
| 2006 | $723,240,601 | ODA received |
| 2005 | $681,234,863 | ODA received |
| 2004 | $631,614,807 | ODA received |
| 2003 | $642,149,048 | ODA received |
| 2002 | $506,961,884 | ODA received |
| 2001 | $428,879,303 | ODA received |
| 2000 | $490,014,771 | ODA received |
| 1999 | $543,269,287 | ODA received |
| 1998 | $515,640,442 | ODA received |
| 1997 | $495,589,996 | ODA received |
| 1996 | $362,339,996 | ODA received |
| 1995 | $386,170,013 | ODA received |
| 1994 | $293,079,987 | ODA received |
| 1993 | $270,450,012 | ODA received |
Figures are consolidated from the UNHCR Refugee Data Finder and the World Bank / UNODC. Only reported values are shown — blanks mean a source did not publish a figure, never a fabricated estimate. Statistics describe recorded populations and movements and should not be read as causal relationships.