The report found isiZulu remained the most spoken language in the country since 1996 with one in every five people in households speaking the language. isiXhosa and Afrikaans were the second and third most spoken languages, respectively.
The report said most of the provinces except Gauteng had one dominant spoken language. This was a result of the homelands legacy, which grouped people geographically along ethnic lineage.
“On the other hand, Gauteng as an economic hub reflects an increased migrant inflow and subsequently a diverse spoken language profile.”
Since the advent of democracy, the country had seen a gradual increase in the number of migrants from the Sadc region and an increase in the number of non-official language speakers had been observed.
Over 1.2-million people spoke non-official languages in the country in 2022, more than half of these spoke Shona and over 160,000 spoke Chichewa/Chewa/Nyanja/Chinyanja.
Furthermore, over 6,000 people indicated that they communicated using Khoi, Nama and San languages, a majority of which are in the Northern Cape.
The report showed that English and Afrikaans speakers have had the highest proportion of Bachelors’ degrees after completing matric since the early 1990s.
The report said this might indicate that most universities in the country applied English as the medium of instruction, while some used both English and Afrikaans, which might offer an added advantage to the speakers of these languages who were predominantly white.
“The results reflect a clear inequality when it comes to educational achievement by spoken language.”
TimesLIVE
Marked increase in multiracial households in SA: Stats SA report
While a majority of households in South Africa are single-race households, there has been substantial and consistent upward trend in multiracial households, from 1.3% in 2001 to 11.4% in 2022.
This is according to the Stats SA’s “Cultural Dynamics in South Africa” report published last week.
Stats SA says the latest report provides insights into culture aspects measured in post democracy South African censuses, including language, population group, religion and marriage.
The report said race was a poignant and controversial issue in South Africa and had a long and painful history. Historically, race groups were prohibited to marry or have sexual relations with other races due to the laws introduced by the apartheid government.
These laws played a role in creating distinct family and household relations. As a result, individuals could not easily form interracial relations leading to family and household formation due to fear of being prosecuted.
Stats SA said its findings to a greater extent showed that South Africans had begun to embrace each other regardless of their race.
For the purposes of the report, multiracial households are defined as households with two or more people who are of different population groups (black African, white, coloured, Indian/Asian, and other) living together as one household.
Censuses 2001 and 2011 indicated that multiracial households were more prevalent in the Northern Cape followed by Western Cape, while Census 2022 showed a slightly different pattern. It showed multiracial households more prominent in the Western Cape with 17% followed by Gauteng with 14.6% and Northern Cape 10.6%.
Limpopo recorded the least prevalence with 0.3% in 2001 and 6.7% in 2022.
Census 2022 showed that the City of Johannesburg had the highest proportion (29.7%) of multiracial households in the metros followed by City of Cape Town, with a quarter (24.5%) of households being multiracial. Metros with the least multiracial households were Mangaung (1.4%) and Nelson Mandela Bay (1.6%).
Results showed that multiracial households were more prevalent in urban areas and this was the case in all the three census years.
Though multiracial households were more prevalent in urban areas, non-urban areas experienced an increase of about three percentage points in mixed race households (from 14.9% 2001 to 18.2% in 2022). Stats SA said literature suggested the increase in cultural diversity was due to migration.
“An increase in multiracial households in non-urban areas in South Africa suggests that racial and ethnic diversity is no longer confined to big cities, it also shows that South Africa has undergone social transformation including cultural shifts in living arrangements across the country.”
The report found isiZulu remained the most spoken language in the country since 1996 with one in every five people in households speaking the language. isiXhosa and Afrikaans were the second and third most spoken languages, respectively.
The report said most of the provinces except Gauteng had one dominant spoken language. This was a result of the homelands legacy, which grouped people geographically along ethnic lineage.
“On the other hand, Gauteng as an economic hub reflects an increased migrant inflow and subsequently a diverse spoken language profile.”
Since the advent of democracy, the country had seen a gradual increase in the number of migrants from the Sadc region and an increase in the number of non-official language speakers had been observed.
Over 1.2-million people spoke non-official languages in the country in 2022, more than half of these spoke Shona and over 160,000 spoke Chichewa/Chewa/Nyanja/Chinyanja.
Furthermore, over 6,000 people indicated that they communicated using Khoi, Nama and San languages, a majority of which are in the Northern Cape.
The report showed that English and Afrikaans speakers have had the highest proportion of Bachelors’ degrees after completing matric since the early 1990s.
The report said this might indicate that most universities in the country applied English as the medium of instruction, while some used both English and Afrikaans, which might offer an added advantage to the speakers of these languages who were predominantly white.
“The results reflect a clear inequality when it comes to educational achievement by spoken language.”
TimesLIVE
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