Since the election of 27 April 1994, South Africa has been divided into nine provinces. They vary widely in population density, from the highly urbanized Gauteng with nearly 700 people per square kilometre, to the mostly-desert Northern Cape with less than four people per square kilometre. The following table shows the provincial population density according to the Statistics South Africa Census.[1]
| Rank | Province | Population | Area (km²) | Density (per km²) |
| 1 | Gauteng | 15,099,422 (census, 2022)  | 18,178.0 | 831 |
| 2 | KwaZulu-Natal | 12,423,907 (census, 2022) | 94,361.0 | 132 |
| 3 | Mpumalanga | 5,143,324 (census, 2022) | 76,495.0 | 67.2 |
| 4 | Western Cape | 7,113,776 (est, 2021) | 129,462.0 | 54.9 |
| 5 | Limpopo | 6,572,720 (census, 2022) | 125,754.0 | 52.3 |
| 6 | Eastern Cape | 7,230,204 (census, 2022) | 168,966.0 | 42.8 |
| 7 | North West | 3,804,548 (census, 2022) | 104,882 | 36.3 |
| 8 | Free State | 2,964,412 (census, 2022) | 129,825.0 | 22.8 |
| 9 | Northern Cape | 1,355,946 (census, 2022) | 372,889.0 | 3.64 |
| South Africa | 62,027,503 (census, 2022) | 1,221,037 | 50.8 |
Since the creation of the current provinces in 1994 there have been four censuses, in 1996, 2001, 2011, and 2022. The results from the 2022 Census are due to be released on 10 October 2023.[2]
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