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South Africa

OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of South Africa

DATE OF FORMATION: 1934

POPULATION: 45.2 million

DENSITY: 96 people per square mile

LANGUAGES: English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Sepedi, Setswana, Sesotho, Xitsonga, siSwati, Tshivenda, isiNdebele

RELIGIONS: Christian 68%, Traditional beliefs and animist 29%, Muslim 2%, Hindu 1%

ETHNIC MIX: Black 79%, White 10%, Colored 9%, Asian 2%

GOVERNMENT: Multiparty elections

CURRENCY: Rand

 

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Rich in natural resources, South Africa comprises a central plateau, or veld, bordered to the south and east by the Drakensberg Mountains. After eight decades of white minority rule, with racial segregation under the apartheid policy since 1948, South Africa from 1990 underwent a social and political revolution. The first multiracial elections were held in 1994 and the African National Congress (ANC), under Nelson Mandela and his successor Thabo Mbeki, has been the leading political movement ever since. Poverty and the spread of crime and HIV/AIDS are major problems.

 

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