South Africa’s white population share declined from 21.5% to 7.1%

The white population’s share of South Africa’s total population declined from 21.5% when the Union was formed in 1910 to 7.1% in 2026.

This was revealed in Statistics South Africa’s mid-year population estimates, released on 30 July 2026.

The 2026 mid-year population for South Africa is estimated at 63.52 million, with the black African population at 51.92 million.

The black African population constitutes approximately 82% of South Africa’s population, dwarfing the other groups.

The coloured population is estimated at 5.36 million, the white population at 4.50 million, and the Indian and Asian population at 1.72 million.

What was striking about the latest statistics is that the white population was the only one which declined.

In 1995, shortly after South Africa’s democratic elections, the country had a white population of 5.2 million. This has declined to 4.5 million in 2026.

The main reason is that white people are leaving the country. Over the last 25 years, South Africa has seen a net migration loss of 503,562 white people.

Simply put, so many white people are leaving South Africa that the white population in the country is declining.

This raises the question of how it affects the share of white people in terms of the South African population.

In 1910, when the unified state of South Africa was established, the white population of 1.25 million accounted for 21.5% of the total 5.8 million.

By 1961, when South Africa became an independent republic, the white population had grown to 3.1 million.

However, the total population has grown to 16 million, which means that the white share of the population has shrunk to 19.3%.

The decline accelerated after 1980, and by the 1994 democratic elections, white people accounted for only 13% of the population.

The net decline in the white population, driven by emigration, has seen its share of the total South African population plummet to 7.1% in 2026.

The chart below shows the share of the white population in the total South African population between 1910 and 2026.