South Africa released its official census in July which found the population of the country managed to increase by a meager 10 percent from 1996-2001 despite the ever increasing toll that the AIDS epidemic is taking on that country. South Africa’s population rose from 40.5 million in 1996 to 44.8 million in 2001.
The census report painted a very odd economic picture for South Africa. On the one hand, the report claimed that many key measures of economic progress had improved dramatically since 1996. For example, the census claimed that 70 percent of South African homes had electricity in 2001 compared to only 58 percent in 1996. Similarly, South Africans had better access to education, clean water and other goods.
On the other hand, the census reported that South Africa’s employment rate sits at a whopping 42 percent. The government tried to explain part of that away by explaining that people in agriculture and those working outside the formal economy might have marked themselves as unemployed. Of course if South Africa’s informal economy is that big that’s a major problem in and of itself.
Source:
S. Africa grows despite AIDS. The BBC, July 9, 2003.