Since the election of 27 April 1994, South Africa has been divided into nine provinces. They vary widely in population, from the mostly-urban Gauteng, which contains over 20% of the national population, to the mostly-desert Northern Cape, which contains less than 3%. The following table shows the provincial populations according to the 2011 National Census, the 2016 Community Survey, and the most recent 2022 Census.
List
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan=2|Rank
!rowspan=2|Province
!colspan=2|Census 2011
!colspan=2|2016 community survey
!colspan=2|Census 2022
|-
!Population
!Percentage
!Population
!Percentage
!Population
!Percentage
|-
|1
|Gauteng
|style="text-align:right"|12,272,263
|style="text-align:right"|23.7
|style="text-align:right"|13,399,724
|style="text-align:right"|24.1
|style="text-align:right"|15,099,422
|style="text-align:right"|24.3
|-
|2
|KwaZulu-Natal
|style="text-align:right"|10,267,300
|style="text-align:right"|19.8
|style="text-align:right"|11,065,240
|style="text-align:right"|19.9
|style="text-align:right"|12,423,907
|style="text-align:right"|20.0
|-
|3
|Western Cape
| style="text-align:right" |5,822,734
| style="text-align:right" |11.2
| style="text-align:right" |6,279,730
| style="text-align:right" |11.3
| style="text-align:right" |7,433,019
| style="text-align:right" |12.0
|-
|4
|Eastern Cape
| style="text-align:right" |6,562,053
| style="text-align:right" |12.7
| style="text-align:right" |6,996,976
| style="text-align:right" |12.6
| style="text-align:right" |7,230,204
| style="text-align:right" |11.6
|-
|5
|Limpopo
|style="text-align:right"|5,404,868
|style="text-align:right"|10.4
|style="text-align:right"|5,799,090
|style="text-align:right"|10.4
|style="text-align:right"|6,572,720
|style="text-align:right"|10.6
|-
|6
|Mpumalanga
|style="text-align:right"|4,039,939
|style="text-align:right"|7.8
|style="text-align:right"|4,335,964
|style="text-align:right"|7.8
|style="text-align:right"|5,143,324
|style="text-align:right"|8.3
|-
|7
|North West
|style="text-align:right"|3,509,953
|style="text-align:right"|6.8
|style="text-align:right"|3,748,435
|style="text-align:right"|6.7
|style="text-align:right"|3,804,548
|style="text-align:right"|6.1
|-
|8
|Free State
|style="text-align:right"|2,745,590
|style="text-align:right"|5.3
|style="text-align:right"|2,834,714
|style="text-align:right"|5.1
|style="text-align:right"|2,964,412
|style="text-align:right"|4.8
|-
|9
|Northern Cape
|style="text-align:right"|1,145,861
|style="text-align:right"|2.2
|style="text-align:right"|1,193,780
|style="text-align:right"|2.1
|style="text-align:right"|1,355,946
|style="text-align:right"|2.2
|-
|colspan=2|South Africa
|style="text-align:right"|51,770,561
|style="text-align:right"|100.0
|style="text-align:right"|55,653,654
|style="text-align:right"|100.0
|style="text-align:right"|62,027,503
|style="text-align:right"|100.0
|}
Historical data
Since the creation of the current provinces in 1994 there have been three censuses, in 1996, 2001 and 2011.
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Province
!Census 1996
!class="unsortable"|Percentage
!Census 2001