| | The Demography of South Africa represents a unique snapshot of South Africa's history as it examines population dynamics during and after apartheid. |
BUSINESS REPORT (Republic of South Africa)
Coming to Grips With History Through Numbers
August 4, 2005
By Pali Lehohla
Yesterday witnessed the launch of an unusual book. The Demography of South Africa, the first in a series of eight books on African countries, provides a historical perspective from a numerical viewpoint.
Published under the auspices of the Population Studies Centre at the University of Pennsylvania, this volume is a joint venture between African scholars and Statistics SA.
In the first years of the new millennium, seven Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states conducted population censuses (Mauritius, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe)
In discussions in the SADC statistics committee on how best to use the information gathered in these censuses, a memorandum of understanding was entered into between the SADC and the African Census Analysis Project (Acap) at the University of Pennsylvania.
Acap has recovered, restored and archived census data for over 20 African countries.
The Demography of South Africa represents a unique snapshot of South Africa's history as it examines population dynamics during and after apartheid.
The book exploits census information, supplemented by household surveys and vital registrations (which hitherto had not been used) to gain better understanding of demographic processes and their interrelationships with socioeconomic phenomena.
A guiding philosophy of the volume is that the demography of South Africa is best understood if approached from a multidisciplinary perspective.
An often forgotten aspect of apartheid was the deliberate neglect of accurate demographic information. Nowhere is this more evident than in the paucity of complete census information for almost two decades as the previous South African government pursued its policy of "separate development".
For this reason alone, the book is particularly welcome, as it attempts to fill in the missing years. It begins with an overview of the official statistics system in the country, its uses and abuses.
This is a ground-breaking study, which provides a unique look at the interplay of demographics, social and economic processes in a society undergoing rapid change. | |
A timely and subtle warning over the use of race and race statistics is offered: "Racial classification is a social process to direct social stratification.
Thus, racially classifying the population is an effort for or against the process of racial stratification and domination. If the state advances a policy of racial stratification, the use of race facilitates the administration of racially marginalised populations.
Contrarily, if the state advances a policy against racial stratification, then the use of race facilitates the state's fight against racial stratification by providing the empirical data necessary to redress past misdeeds.
And if the state advances a policy against racial distinctions, the use of racialised data becomes part of a process to end the everyday practices of racism, which necessitates race."
The second cluster of chapters contains a review of the fertility transition in South Africa. This includes an overview of fertility levels, trends and differentials.
The third cluster of chapters presents a detailed analysis of mortality and adult survival. The result is a rare blend of technical analysis and methodology that makes for compelling reading. It includes a critical evaluation of census and survey data to derive mortality estimates in a context of HIV.
The last group of chapters is concerned with issues related to household structure, educational parity and the labour market.
This is a ground-breaking study, which provides a unique look at the interplay of demographics, social and economic processes in a society undergoing rapid change.
[*]Pali Lehohla is statistician-general and head of Stats SA. The Demography of South Africa, edited by Tukufu Zuberi, Amson Sibanda and Eric Udjo.
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