Informazioni sul Sudafrica (Fonte: CIA -- The World Factbook 1999) |
[Top] Location: Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Geographic coordinates: 29 00 S, 24 00 E Map references: Africa Area: Areacomparative: slightly less than twice the size of Texas Land boundaries: Coastline: 2,798 km Maritime claims: Climate: mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days, cool nights Terrain: vast interior plateau rimmed by rugged hills and narrow coastal plain Elevation extremes:
Natural resources: gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt, natural gas Land use: Irrigated land: 12,700 sq km (1993 est.) Natural hazards: prolonged droughts Environmentcurrent issues: lack of important arterial rivers or lakes requires extensive water conservation and control measures; growth in water usage threatens to outpace supply; pollution of rivers from agricultural runoff and urban discharge; air pollution resulting in acid rain; soil erosion; desertification Environmentinternational
agreements: Geographynote: South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho and almost completely surrounds Swaziland |
[Top] Population: 43,426,386 (July
1999 est.) Age structure: Population growth rate: 1.32% (1999 est.) Birth rate: 25.94 births/1,000 population (1999 est.) Death rate: 12.81 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.) Net migration rate: 0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.) Sex ratio: Infant mortality rate: 51.99 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.) Life expectancy at
birth: Total fertility rate: 3.09 children born/woman (1999 est.) Nationality: Ethnic groups: black 75.2%, white 13.6%, Colored 8.6%, Indian 2.6% Religions: Christian 68% (includes most whites and Coloreds, about 60% of blacks and about 40% of Indians), Muslim 2%, Hindu 1.5% (60% of Indians), traditional and animistic 28.5% Languages: 11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu Literacy: |
[Top] Country name: Data code: SF Government type: republic Capital: Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial) Administrative divisions: 9 provinces; Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North-West, Northern Cape, Northern Province, Western Cape Independence: 31 May 1910 (from UK) National holiday: Freedom Day, 27 April (1994) Constitution: 10 December 1996; this new constitution was certified by the Constitutional Court on 4 December 1996, was signed by President MANDELA on 10 December 1996, and entered into effect on 3 February 1997; it is being implemented in phases Legal system: based on Roman-Dutch law and English common law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal Executive branch:
Legislative branch:
bicameral parliament consisting of the National Assembly
(400 seats; members are elected by popular vote under a
system of proportional representation to serve five-year
terms) and the National Council of Provinces (90 seats,
10 members elected by each of the nine provincial
legislatures for five-year terms; has special powers to
protect regional interests, including the safeguarding of
cultural and linguistic traditions among ethnic
minorities); notefollowing the implementation of
the new constitution on 3 February 1997 the former Senate
was disbanded and replaced by the National Council of
Provinces with essentially no change in membership and
party affiliations, although the new institution's
responsibilities have been changed somewhat by the new
constitution Judicial branch: Constitutional Court; Supreme Court of Appeals; High Courts; Magistrate Courts Political parties and
leaders: African Christian Democratic Party or ACDP [Kenneth
MESHOE, president]; African National Congress or ANC [Thabo
MBEKI, president]; Democratic Party or DP [Tony LEON,
president]; Freedom Front or FF [Constand VILJOEN,
president]; Inkatha Freedom Party or IFP [Mangosuthu
BUTHELEZI, president]; National Party (now the New
National Party) or NP [Marthinus VAN SCHALKWYK, executive
director]; Pan-Africanist Congress or PAC [Stanley
MOGOBA, president]; United Democratic Movement or UDM [Roelf
MEYER, Bantu HOLOMISA] Political pressure groups and leaders: Congress of South African Trade Unions or COSATU [Sam SHILOWA, general secretary]; South African Communist Party or SACP [Charles NQAKULA, general secretary]; South African National Civics Organization or SANCO [Mlungisi HLONGWANE, national president]; noteCOSATU and SACP are in a formal alliance with the ANC International organization participation: AfDB, BIS, C, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MTCR, NAM, NSG, OAU, OPCW, SACU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC Diplomatic
representation in the US: Diplomatic
representation from the US: Flag description:
two equal width horizontal bands of red (top) and blue
separated by a central green band which splits into a
horizontal Y, the arms of which end at the corners of the
hoist side, embracing a black isosceles triangle from
which the arms are separated by narrow yellow bands; the
red and blue bands are separated from the green band and
its arms by narrow white stripes |
[Top] Economyoverview: South Africa is a middle-income, developing country with an abundant supply of resources, well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors, a stock exchange that ranks among the 10 largest in the world, and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. However, growth has not been strong enough to cut into the 30% unemployment, and daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era, especially the problems of poverty and lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups. Other problems are crime and corruption. The new government demonstrated its commitment to open markets, privatization, and a favorable investment climate with the release of its macroeconomic strategy in June 1996. Called "Growth, Employment and Redistribution," this policy framework includes the introduction of tax incentives to stimulate new investment in labor-intensive projects, expansion of basic infrastructure services, the restructuring and partial privatization of state assets, continued reduction of tariffs, subsidies to promote economic efficiency, improved services to the disadvantaged, and integration into the global economy. Serious structural rigidities remain, including a complicated and relatively protectionist trade regime, and concentration of wealth and economic control. GDP: purchasing power parity$290.6 billion (1998 est.) GDPreal growth rate: 0.3% (1998 est.) GDPper capita: purchasing power parity$6,800 (1998 est.) GDPcomposition
by sector: Population below poverty line: NA% Household income or
consumption by percentage share: Inflation rate (consumer prices): 9% (1998 est.) Labor force: 15 million economically active (1997) Labor forceby occupation: services 35%, agriculture 30%, industry 20%, mining 9%, other 6% Unemployment rate: 30% (1998 est.) Budget: Industries: mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron and steel, chemical, fertilizer, foodstuffs Industrial production growth rate: -1% (1998 est.) Electricityproduction: 186.949 billion kWh (1996) Electricityproduction
by source: Electricityconsumption: 181.404 billion kWh (1996) Electricityexports: 5.575 billion kWh (1996) Electricityimports: 30 million kWh (1996) Agricultureproducts: corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; beef, poultry, mutton, wool, dairy products Exports: $28.7 billion (f.o.b., 1998) Exportscommodities: gold 20%, other minerals and metals 20%-25%, food 5%, chemicals 3% (1997) Exportspartners: UK, Italy, Japan, US, Germany (1997) Imports: $27.2 billion (f.o.b., 1998) Importscommodities: machinery, transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, textiles, scientific instruments (1997) Importspartners: Germany, US, UK, Japan (1997) Debtexternal: $23.5 billion (1997 est.) Economic aidrecipient: $676.3 million Currency: 1 rand (R) = 100 cents Exchange rates: rand (R) per US$15.98380 (January 1999), 5.52828 (1998), 4.60796 (1997), 4.29935 (1996), 3.62709 (1995), 3.55080 (1994) Fiscal year: 1 April31 March |
[Top] Telephones: 4.2 million (1997) Telephone system:
the system is the best developed, most modern, and has
the highest capacity in Africa Radio broadcast stations: AM 15, FM 164, shortwave 1 Radios: 7.5 million (1999 est.) Television broadcast stations: 556 (includes 156 network stations and 400 privately-owned low-power stations; in addition, there are 144 network repeaters) (1997) Televisions: 7.5 million |
[Top] Railways: Highways: Pipelines: crude oil 931 km; petroleum products 1,748 km; natural gas 322 km Ports and harbors: Cape Town, Durban, East London, Mosselbaai, Port Elizabeth, Richards Bay, Saldanha Merchant marine: Airports: 749 (1998 est.) Airportswith
paved runways: Airportswith
unpaved runways: |
[Top] Military branches: South African National Defense Force or SANDF (includes Army, Navy, Air Force, and Medical Services), South African Police Service or SAPS Military manpowermilitary age: 18 years of age Military manpoweravailability:
Military manpowerfit
for military service: Military manpowerreaching
military age annually: Military expendituresdollar figure: $2 billion (FY99/00) Military expenditurespercent of GDP: 2.2% (FY95/96) Militarynote: the National Defense Force continues to integrate former military, black homelands forces, and ex-opposition forces |
[Top] Disputesinternational: Swaziland has asked South Africa to open negotiations on reincorporating some nearby South African territories that are populated by ethnic Swazis or that were long ago part of the Swazi Kingdom Illicit drugs:
transshipment center for heroin and cocaine; cocaine
consumption on the rise; world's largest market for
illicit methaqualone, usually imported illegally from
India through various east African countries; illicit
cultivation of marijuana |
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