{"id":97211,"date":"2015-09-01T19:30:46","date_gmt":"2015-09-01T17:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=97211"},"modified":"2016-09-06T14:40:39","modified_gmt":"2016-09-06T12:40:39","slug":"south-africas-fastest-growing-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/97211\/south-africas-fastest-growing-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Fastest growing cities in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Data from the United Nations shows which South African cities have experienced the biggest growth spurt over the past 65 years, and what these cities will look like in 2030.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Stats SA reported that South Africa’s most populous province, Gauteng had breached a population of 13 million people.<\/p>\n

Of all South African cities, Johannesburg is the largest, as it has been since 1950, when the population was just over 1.65 million people.<\/p>\n

The UN’s data<\/a> shows that in 2015, over 9 million people are estimated to live in and around Joburg\u00a0– and that by 2030, this is projected to\u00a0grow to over 11.5 million people, making it\u00a0the 34th biggest city in the world.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0SA population flocking to cities<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, when it comes to population growth within South African cities, Johannesburg has not experienced the biggest boom.<\/p>\n

The UN’s data for 1950 shows that Johannesburg’s population of 1.65 million people had increased by 470% to 9.4 million by 2015.<\/p>\n

Operating from a smaller base, Soshanguve, a major settlement north of Pretoria, has grown from 24,000 people in 1950 to 775,000 in the same time – a rise of 3,100%.<\/p>\n

Rustenburg (2,635%) and Witbank (2,370%) have seen similar jumps since the 1950s.<\/p>\n

\"SA<\/a>

SA city population (click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

SA city population growth, 1950 – 2015<\/h3>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
City<\/th>\n1950 Population<\/th>\n2015 Population<\/th>\nGrowth (%)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Soshanguve<\/td>\n24 000<\/td>\n775 000<\/td>\n3 129%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rustenburg<\/td>\n14 000<\/td>\n383 000<\/td>\n2 636%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Witbank<\/td>\n15 000<\/td>\n371 000<\/td>\n2 373%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vereeniging<\/td>\n117 000<\/td>\n1 155 000<\/td>\n887%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pretoria<\/td>\n275 000<\/td>\n2 059 000<\/td>\n649%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Port Elizabeth<\/td>\n192 000<\/td>\n1 179 000<\/td>\n514%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Durban<\/td>\n484 000<\/td>\n2 901 000<\/td>\n499%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cape Town<\/td>\n618 000<\/td>\n3 660 000<\/td>\n492%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Johannesburg<\/td>\n1 653 000<\/td>\n9 399 000<\/td>\n469%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pietermaritzburg<\/td>\n90 000<\/td>\n495 000<\/td>\n450%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloemfontein<\/td>\n107 000<\/td>\n503 000<\/td>\n370%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
East London<\/td>\n89 000<\/td>\n319 000<\/td>\n258%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

South Africa’s population has grown from around 13 million to 54 million over the past 65 years.<\/p>\n

Looking at the period after the fall of apartheid shows a more representative model of city growth, as movements of the biggest portion of the population became less\u00a0restricted (though economic restrictions still persist).<\/p>\n

SA city population growth, 1995 – 2015<\/h3>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
City<\/th>\n1995 Population<\/th>\n2015 Population<\/th>\nGrowth (%)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Rustenburg<\/td>\n75 000<\/td>\n383 000<\/td>\n411%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Witbank<\/td>\n156 000<\/td>\n371 000<\/td>\n138%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pretoria<\/td>\n951 000<\/td>\n2 059 000<\/td>\n117%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Johannesburg<\/td>\n4 529 000<\/td>\n9 399 000<\/td>\n108%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Soshanguve<\/td>\n472 000<\/td>\n775 000<\/td>\n64%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloemfontein<\/td>\n317 000<\/td>\n503 000<\/td>\n59%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
East London<\/td>\n204 000<\/td>\n319 000<\/td>\n56%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cape Town<\/td>\n2 394 000<\/td>\n3 660 000<\/td>\n53%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vereeniging<\/td>\n800 000<\/td>\n1 155 000<\/td>\n44%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Durban<\/td>\n2 081 000<\/td>\n2 901 000<\/td>\n39%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pietermaritzburg<\/td>\n356 000<\/td>\n495 000<\/td>\n39%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Port Elizabeth<\/td>\n911 000<\/td>\n1 179 000<\/td>\n29%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The UN’s projections through to 2030 show that population growth is expected to continue in these top areas – where Rustenburg is forecast to grow to a population of 540,000 people.<\/p>\n

SA city population growth, 2015 – 2030<\/h3>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
City<\/th>\n2015 Population<\/th>\n2030 Population (Est.)<\/th>\nGrowth (%)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Rustenburg<\/td>\n383 000<\/td>\n544 00<\/td>\n42%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Witbank<\/td>\n371 000<\/td>\n512 000<\/td>\n38%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pretoria<\/td>\n2 059 000<\/td>\n2 701 000<\/td>\n31%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
East London<\/td>\n319 000<\/td>\n397 000<\/td>\n24%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloemfontein<\/td>\n503 000<\/td>\n623 000<\/td>\n24%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Johannesburg<\/td>\n9 399 000<\/td>\n11 573 000<\/td>\n23%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Soshanguve<\/td>\n775 000<\/td>\n935 000<\/td>\n21%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pietermaritzburg<\/td>\n495 000<\/td>\n588 000<\/td>\n19%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vereeniging<\/td>\n1 155 000<\/td>\n1 370 000<\/td>\n19%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cape Town<\/td>\n3 660 000<\/td>\n4 322 000<\/td>\n18%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Port Elizabeth<\/td>\n1 179 000<\/td>\n1 390 000<\/td>\n18%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Durban<\/td>\n2 901 000<\/td>\n3 349 000<\/td>\n15%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

More on population<\/h3>\n

What South Africa\u2019s population will look like in 2050<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauteng population breaches 13 million<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SA\u2019s population breaks 54 million<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data from the United Nations shows which South African cities have experienced the biggest growth spurt over the past 65 years, and which are expected to grow even larger by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":65856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26,8512,2983],"class_list":["post-97211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-headline","tag-population","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97211"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135773,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97211\/revisions\/135773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}