Republic of South Africa 10 other official names Zulu: iRiphabhuliki yaseNingizimu Afrika Xhosa: iRiphabliki yomZantsi Afrika Afrikaans: Republiek van Suid-Afrika Northern Sotho: Repabliki ya Afrika-Borwa Tswana: Rephaboliki ya Aforika Borwa Sotho: Rephaboliki ya Afrika Borwa Tsonga: Riphabliki ra Afrika Dzonga Swazi: iRiphabhulikhi yeNingizimu Afrika Venda: Riphabuḽiki ya Afurika Tshipembe Southern Ndebele: iRiphabliki yeSewula Afrika
Motto:
Anthem:
Location of  South Africa  (dark blue) in the African Union  (light blue)
Capital	Cape Town (executive) Bloemfontein (judicial) Pretoria (legislative)
Official languages	11 languages Zulu Xhosa Afrikaans English Northern Sotho Tswana Sotho Tsonga Swazi Venda Southern Ndebele Languages with special status Arabic German Greek Gujarati Hebrew Hindi Khoi languages Nama Portuguese San languages Sanskrit South African Sign Language Tamil Telugu Urdu
Ethnic groups (2014)	80.2% Black 8.8% Coloured 8.4% White 2.5% Asian
Religion	See Religion in South Africa
Demonym(s)	South African
Government	Unitary dominant-party parliamentary constitutional republic
• President	Cyril Ramaphosa
• Deputy President	David Mabuza
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	National Council
• Lower house	National Assembly
Independence  from the United Kingdom
• Union	31 May 1910
• Self-governance	11 December 1931
• Republic	31 May 1961
Area
• Total	Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1850: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). (24th)
• Water (%)	0.380
Population
• 2018 estimate	57,725,600 (24th)
• 2011 census	51,770,560:18
• Density	Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1850: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). (169th)
GDP (PPP)	2019 estimate
• Total	$813.100 billion (30th)
• Per capita	$13,865 (89th)
GDP (nominal)	2019 estimate
• Total	$371.298 billion (33rd)
• Per capita	$6,331 (86th)
Gini (2014)	▼ 63.0 very high
HDI (2017)	0.699 medium · 113th
Currency	South African rand (ZAR)
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Driving side	left
Calling code	+27
ISO 3166 code	ZA
Internet TLD	.za

South Africa (officially called the Republic of South Africa) is a country in the southern region of Africa. About fifty-seven million people live there. South Africa is next to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Eswatini.

The biggest city of South Africa is Johannesburg. The country has three capitals for different purposes. They are Cape Town, Pretoria, and Bloemfontein. This is because the government is based in Pretoria, the parliament is in Cape Town and the Supreme Court is in Bloemfontein.

There are 11 national languages. They are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Xhosa, Zulu, Swati, Setswana, Sesotho, Sesotho sa Leboa, Venda and Tsonga. They are also known as National Lexicography Units (NLUs). Because of all the languages, the country has an official name in each language.