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How many people live in South Africa's metros?

24 900 197 people lived in South Africa's 8 metros in Census 2022, 40.1% of the population; City of Johannesburg is the largest, according to Stats SA's Provinces at a glance.

People in each metro, Census 2022
  • City of Johannesburg4 803 262

    Gauteng

  • City of Cape Town4 772 846

    Western Cape

  • eThekwini4 239 901

    KwaZulu-Natal

  • Ekurhuleni4 066 691

    Gauteng

  • City of Tshwane4 040 315

    Gauteng

  • Nelson Mandela Bay1 190 496

    Eastern Cape

  • Buffalo City975 255

    Eastern Cape

  • Mangaung811 431

    Free State

Source: Stats SA, Census 2022 Provinces at a glance (Report no. 03-01-43), Person indicators per municipality, pages 6 to 44. Source released . Checked on SA Data Hub . Original data: Stats SA. Any calculation shown is SA Data Hub's own processing.

Open: City of Johannesburg, City of Cape Town, eThekwini, Ekurhuleni, City of Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City, Mangaung

How this was worked out

The Census 2022 population of the eight metropolitan municipalities, from the person tables of Provinces at a glance. The share is SA Data Hub's calculation, against the sum of the nine province rows.

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