While the natural growth rate applicable in South Africa is 2.7% per annum. Due to the incidence of HIV/AIDS a negative growth rate of - 0.5% is projected for the district resulting in a projected population of 1 705 850 by 2005. The negative regional growth rate will also be worsened by migration of local residents to major cities in search of employment.
The dependency ratio in the region is 1:5 and the male to female ratio is 45.1%: 54.9%. This could be attributed to migrant labour that has resulted in a large number of households being headed by females.

Age and gender

Approximately 47.6 % of the district population falls within the 15 - 65 age bracket. This group constitutes the economically active population. 46.5% is under the age of and falls outside the economically active group. 5.9% of the population is over the age of 65 and is thus dependent on social security schemes provided by government.

Education

The OR Tambo District Municipality has 1892 (one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two) primary and secondary schools. There is one University based in Umtata and in the process of being transformed into a Technikon or to merge with other institutions of higher learning in the Province. Basic statistics on education are summarized below as follows:

With 93.3% of the population residing in rural areas the district municipality has a low functionally urban population of 6.7%.

The average size of a household is 5.3. Of the total population some 81 323 households are in formal dwellings, 213 397 in traditional dwellings and 6 311 in informal (inadequate) dwellings. The situation is summarized as follows.

Housing need expressed in a survey conducted by the department of housing in 2001 revealed the following:

Challenges facing housing
Following are challenges affecting housing in the District Municipality

• Lack of institutional capacity at Municipal and Provincial level
• Access to land
• Meeting the housing need
• Limitations and inflexibility of subsidy packages
• Lack of management and finance skills amongst contractors

Infrastructure
Telecommunications

Telkom operates an established telecommunications network throughout the region. There is a growing shift in the concentration of telecommunications in urban areas to rural areas through application of Digitally Enhanced Cordless Telephone System (DECT) in addition Vodacom, Cell C and MTN provide services to more 70% of the study area. There is a move by a locally owned and community based operator to secure the OR Tambo Under Serviced Area license. This together with any company that secures the Second National Operator License soon to be granted by government will further improve access to telecommunications in the region.
Eskom is responsible for electricity distribution in the area. The corporation has taken a shift from focusing in urban areas and is expanding with installations in rural areas. With the Umtata area the City of Umtata provides electricity.

Road Network
The various categories of road are summarised as follows: -

   • National roads 136 km
   • Trunk roads 57 km
   • Main roads 438 km
   • District roads 2792 km
   • Minor roads 0 km
   • Access roads 2957 km

Key Nodal Challenges
   • Food security(Malnutrition)
   • High Unemployment levels
   • Development of SMME's
   • Infrastructure backlogs
   • Housing shortage
      Low levels of education.
   • Low levels of health facilities.
   • Environmental degradation
   • HIV/AIDS

Local Municipalities:
   • King Sabata Dalindyebo
   • Nyandeni
   • Port St John's
   • Mhlontlo
   • Ntabankulu
   • Mbizana
   • Ingquza hill

Geographical profile

The OR Tambo is located to the east of the Eastern Cape Province, on the Indian Ocean coastline. The district shares a border with Alfred Nzo District to the North, the Joe Gqabi District to the Northwest, the Chris Hani district to the west and the Amatole District to the Southwest.

The District Municipality is divided into seven Local Municipalities namely:
   • King Sabata Dalindyebo
   • Nyandeni
   • Port St John's
   • Mhlontlo
   • Ntabankulu
   • Mbizana
   • Ingquza hill

Population

The O.R. Tambo district is poorest district in the Eastern Cape in terms of all poverty measures. It has the lowest HDI (0.45) and the highest poverty gap (2 231 million) in the Eastern Cape. The number of people living in poverty is also high in this district (64.6%).It has a population of 1,604,411million persons and 306, 463 households with an average family size of 5.2.

The population is predominantly African (99.53%). All other population groups are very few in this district.

The population pyramid that represents the age distribution of the district shows very broad base and very lean elevation. The type of pyramid shows all the characteristics of under development. About 45% of population are below 15 years of age. Almost 58% of the population is below 20 years.

Women outnumber men in the O.R. Tambo district :45% of the population are males and 55% are females.


 

Area Information:

Economic characteristics and sectors

OR Tambo District Municipality generally lacks major economic base. This is attributed to the fact that emphasis is put on implementation of fragmented non-economically viable projects. Strategies need to be adopted to improve the situation as there may be further decline in the economic performance of this economic region of the Province of the Eastern Cape.
The government sector is the largest contributor to Gross Geographical Product. Umtata is the largest town and economic hub of the District Municipality yet it is dependent mostly on wholesale and retails both sectors that have very little growth potential and have little to offer towards needed employment opportunities.
Agriculture is predominantly subsistence and the potential of commercial agriculture is undermined by lack of infrastructure as well as training and financial support for local aspirant farmers.
Another area that has hitherto been underdeveloped into locally owned areas of economic growth are tourism, Mari culture and agro-forestry.
Additional factors that undermine investment in the area include but not limited to; limited skills base; crime rate; poor developed road infrastructure and non-existent rail infrastructure to connect the region to nearby seaports; difficult access to land with economic potential due to complicated land tenure system, speculation and associated high prices of property; and generally poor infrastructural support for business and industrial development.

As a result of these and other associated weaknesses the following summary of economic profile emerges:

- Seventy-one comma five (71.5%) per cent of economically active population is unemployed and crime rate is growing in the region
- Eighty-eight (88%) per cent of households live below the minimum poverty level
- Ninety three comma three (93.3%) per cent of resident population have no formal sanitation services hence the high rate of cholera outbreak witnessed recently
- Seventy-eight comma three (78.3%) of the population does not have access to a formal RDP standard water supply Of the ten urban areas with the municipality only fours are either fully or partially served by waterborne sanitation system