List of South African provinces by population density

Since the election of 27 April 1994, South Africa has been divided into nine provinces. They vary widely in population density, from the highly urbanized Gauteng with nearly 700 people per square kilometre, to the mostly-desert Northern Cape with less than four people per square kilometre. The following table shows the provincial population density according to the 2011 National Census.

Rank	Province	Population (2011)	Area (km²)	Density (per km²)
1	Gauteng	12,272,263	18,178	675.1
2	KwaZulu-Natal	10,267,300	120,361	85.3
3	Mpumalanga	4,039,939	76,495	52.8
4	Western Cape	5,822,734	129,462	45.0
5	Limpopo	5,404,868	125,755	43.0
6	Eastern Cape	11,562,053	168,966	38.8
7	North West	3,509,953	104,882	33.5
8	Free State	2,745,590	129,825	21.1
9	Northern Cape	1,145,861	372,889	3.1
South Africa		51,770,561	1,220,813	42.4

Historical data

Since the creation of the current provinces in 1994 there have been three censuses, in 1996, 2001 and 2011.

Province	Census 1996	Census 2001	Census 2011
Gauteng	432.0	519.5	675.1
KwaZulu-Natal	91.4	102.3	108.8
Mpumalanga	35.2	39.3	52.8
Western Cape	30.6	35.0	45.0
Limpopo	39.8	42.6	43.0
Eastern Cape	37.2	38.0	38.8
North West	28.8	31.5	33.5
Free State	20.3	20.9	21.1
Northern Cape	2.3	2.3	3.1
South Africa	33.3	36.8	42.4

See also

• List of South African provinces by population
• List of South African provinces by area