- ISO 3166
ZA- Main language + region
en-ZA- Currency
- ZAR · South African Rand
- Region
- EMEA · SSA
South Africa
South Africa has 60.4M people, and 47.4M of them are online. English is the most widely spoken language at 31%, one of 12 languages CLDR lists here. English is official nationally, and Zulu and Xhosa are official in part of the territory. A product shipping here defaults to en-ZA.
Market summary
Each figure carries its own world scale, so it reads without a second market beside it.
People online
47.4M
0%world median 81%100%
78% of 60.4M people use the internet, per the World Bank's 2024 figure. Estimated by multiplying CLDR population by that share.
Income per person
$6,598
Higher than 41% of 213 territories
GDP per capita in current US dollars, World Bank Open Data, most recent reported year. A rough guide to spending power, not revenue.
Can pay online
81%
0%world median 71%100%
Adults aged 15 and over holding a bank or mobile-money account, World Bank Global Findex 2024. Below half means a card-only checkout excludes most of the market.
Languages
12
English 31% · Zulu 24% · Xhosa 18%
Languages CLDR records here with a share of 0.1% or more. 1 of them is official nationally.
English proficiency
602
Very lowVery high
Very high proficiency on the EF EPI 2025 scale. The sample is self-selected online test takers. It never enters any score on this site.
Adult literacy
93%
0%world median 95%100%
Share of adults who can read, as recorded in CLDR territory data. Low literacy shifts a product toward icons, audio, and video before another language.
What people speak
Shares include second languages, so totals can exceed 100%.
Most spoken in South Africa
share of 60.4M people
- Englishofficial31%18.7M
- Zuluregional24%14.5M
- Xhosaregional18%10.9M
- Afrikaansregional13%7.9M
- Northern Sothoregional9.4%5.7M
- Tswanaregional8.2%5M
- Southern Sothoregional7.9%4.8M
- Tsongaregional4.4%2.7M
Filled bars are nationally official languages. Bars are scaled to the largest language rather than to 100%. 4 more languages sit below the top eight, at 8.6% combined.
CLDR records English in 145 territories and 1.7B speakers in total; South Africa holds 1% of them, and the rest come with the same translation. The English profile maps the whole footprint.
Day-one requirements
What the interface needs for the main language spoken here (en-ZA).
Plural categories
2
Word-forms a translator writes for counted text, like English's "1 item" and "2 items".
Script family
Latin
Default system fonts cover this script on all major platforms.
Reading direction
Left-to-right
Standard. Use dir='auto' on user-generated content fields.
Date
21 April 2026
Short: 2026/04/21
Time
18:30
Week starts Sun
Currency
R 1 234,56
1,234.56 in ZAR · South African Rand