South African Languages | Statistics and graphs (original) (raw)
STATISTICS AND GRAPHS
Percentage of speakers per home language in South Africa (1996, 2001 and 2011)
Number of speakers per language in South Africa (1980, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2011)
LANGUAGE | 1980 | 1991 (a) | 1996 | 1998 (b) | 2001 (c) | 2011 (d) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
isiZulu | 6 064 480 | 8 343 587 | 9 200 144 | 10 194 787 | 10 677 305 | 11 587 374 |
isiXhosa | 2 879 360 | 6 729 281 | 7 196 118 | 7 610 435 | 7 907 153 | 8 154 258 |
Afrikaans | 4 925 760 | 5 685 403 | 5 811 547 | 5 945 805 | 5 983 426 | 6 855 082 |
English | 2 815 640 | 3 422 503 | 3 457 467 | 3 692 157 | 3 673 203 | 4 892 623 |
Sepedi | 2 431 760 | n/a | 3 695 846 | 3 832 645 | 4 208 980 | 4 618 576 |
Setswana | 1 444 908 | 3 368 544 | 3 301 774 | 3 613 925 | 3 677 016 | 4 067 248 |
Sesotho | 1 877 840 | n/a | 3 104 197 | 3 539 261 | 3 555 186 | 3 849 563 |
Xitsonga | 888 140 | 1 439 809 | 1 756 105 | 1 776 505 | 1 992 207 | 2 277 148 |
siSwati | 650 600 | 952 478 | 1 013 193 | 1 068 733 | 1 194 430 | 1 297 046 |
Tshivenda | 169 740 | 673 538 | 876 409 | 1 227 824 | 1 021 757 | 1 209 388 |
isiNdebele | 459 880 | n/a | 586 961 | 654 304 | 711 821 | 1 090 223 |
Other | 292 360 | 640 277 | 228 275 | 157 767 | 217 293 | 828 258 |
Sign language | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 234 655 |
Unspecified | n/a | n/a | 355 538 | 10 868 | n/a | n/a |
TOTAL: | 26 271 060 | 31 255 420 | 40 583 574 | 43 325 017 | 44 819 778 | 50 961 443 |
Source: Statistics South Africa
(a) The accuracy of some data for 1991 is questioned - refer to: Mesthrie, R. (ed.) 1995. Language and social history: studies in South African sociolinguistics. Cape Town : David Philip. (page xvii)
(b) October Househould Surveys: this data is not so comprehensive since it was taken from a sample set of households, and was then extrapolated to provide a nationwide picture.
(c) Census 2001, Statistics South Africa (2003)
(d) Latest Census 2011, Statistics South Africa (2012)
� J. Olivier (2012)
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