SOUTH AFRICA’S GROWING MIGRANT POPULATION:KEY TRENDS AND TOP ORIGINS
There are 2.4-million people in South Africa who were born outside the country, which is 4% of the population- The number of migrants has increased by 11% since the last census in 2011- The top 5 countries of origin remain Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Malawi and the UK
Just over 2.4-million people, or 4% of South Africa’s population, were born outside the country, according to Census 2022. This is an 11% increase since the last census in 2011. Between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, the increase was 113%. The top 5 countries where migrants were born remain Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Malawi and the UK. Just over 1-million people from Zimbabwe live in South Africa, a 51% increase since 2011. The number of people from Malawi and Ethiopia has doubled. People from the other countries of origin in the top 10 – the UK, Namibia, India, Nigeria and Zambia – have decreased since 2011. Half of all international migrants live in Gauteng and 16% live in the Western Cape.
