Indian South Africans

"Asian South Africans" redirects here. For other usages of the term, see Asian (South Africa).

Indian South Africans
Proportion of Indian South Africans in each municipality according to the census
Total population
Increase 1,697,506 (2022 census)[1]
Increase 2.74% of South Africa's population
Regions with significant populations
KwaZulu-Natal • Gauteng • Western Cape
Languages
South African English (home language)

Second languages

Afrikaans • Isizulu • Tamil • Hindi • Urdu • Telugu • Bhojpuri (Naitali) • Awadhi • Gujarati • Kutchi • Bengali • Sindhi • Memoni • Konkani • Marathi • Malayalam • Punjabi • Marwari • Odia • Other languages of the Indian subcontinent[2]
Religion
Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, others[3]
Related ethnic groups
Indian diaspora in Southeast Africa, Indo-Mauritians, Indo-Fijians, Indo-Caribbean people, Indian Singaporeans, Malaysian Indians, Indian people, Indian diaspora, South Asian diaspora
Density of the Indian/Asian population.
  <1 /km²
  1–3 /km²
  3–10 /km²
  10–30 /km²
  30–100 /km²
  100–300 /km²
  300–1000 /km²
  1000–3000 /km²
  >3000 /km²
Indian/Asians as a proportion of the total population.
  0–20%
  20–40%
  40–60%
  70–80%
  80–100%

Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around the city of Durban, making it one of the largest ethnically Indian-populated cities outside of India.[4]

As a consequence of the policies of apartheid, Indian (synonymous with Asian)[5][6][7] is regarded as a race group in South Africa.[8][9]

  1. ^ "Census 2022: Statistical Release" (PDF). statssa.gov.za. 10 October 2023. p. 6. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Chilli city". 14 November 2010.
  3. ^ "South Africa – Religion". Countrystudies.us. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  4. ^ Mukherji, Anahita (23 June 2011). "Durban largest 'Indian' city outside India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  5. ^ "Statistical Release P0302: Mid-year population estimates, 2011" (PDF). Statistics South Africa. p. 3.
  6. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "apartheid | Definition, Facts, Beginning, & End". Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 June 2023.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pillay2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Posel, Deborah (2001). "What's in a name? Racial categorisations under apartheid and their afterlife" (PDF). Transformation: 50–74. ISSN 0258-7696. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2006.