SA population grows by a million since 2011

South Africa's population has increased by more than one million people since the 2011 census, Statistic SA said on Tuesday.

According to its mid-year estimate, the country now had a population of 52.98 million people.

"This is StatsSA's most downloaded release, and is used by various government departments as a denominator upon which they base their planning. It is used by insurance companies," statistician general Pali Lehohla said in a statement.

According to the estimates, the HIV prevalence rate was approximately 10 percent.

"The total number of people living with HIV is estimated at approximately 5.26m in 2013. For adults aged 15 to 49 years, an estimated 15.9% of the population is HIV positive," Lehohla said.

The infant mortality rate for 2013 was estimated at 41.7 per 1 000 live births. The life expectancy of South Africans had increased by almost a year from the previous reporting period to 59.6 years.

Life expectancy at birth for 2013 was estimated at 57.7 years for males and at 61.4 years for females.

For the period 2006 to 2011, it was estimated that about 264 449 people would migrate from the Eastern Cape. Limpopo was estimated to experience a net out-migration of 227,919 people.

During the same period, it was estimated Gauteng would have a net inflow of 1,046,641 migrants, and the Western Cape of 307 411.