Socio-Economic & Demographic Profile:
Amatole District Municipality

Background:

Amatole District stretches along the coastline of the south-eastern part of the Eastern Cape Province, taking in the former homeland areas of the Ciskei and Transkei, as well as former Cape Provincial Administration areas.

The Amatole district municipality incorporates the former magisterial districts of Willowvale, Idutywa and Elliotdale (Mbashe); Butterworth, Nqamakwe and Centani (Mnquma); Komga (Great Kei); Keiskammahoek, Catcart and Stutterheim (Amahlati); East London, King William’s Town, Zwelitsha and Mdantsane (Buffalo City); Peddie (Ngqushwa); Fort Beaufort, Alice, Middledrift and Seymour (Nkonkobe) and Bedford and Adelaide (Nxuba).

Amatole has the second largest population in the Eastern Cape after O.R. Tambo and has the third highest population density, which is 70 people in one square kilometre.

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This varies widely across the municipalities, from 172 people per square kilometre in the urban centre of Buffalo City, to six people per Square kilometre in Nxuba. Buffalo City is home to 42% of the district’s people while just 1.5% of the population live in Nxuba.

The Amatole district is comparatively poor district in terms of poverty measures such as HDI (0.53), poverty gap (1682 million) and number of people living in poverty (66.7%).

The population is predominantly African (92.49%). The white population makes the second largest (4.08% ).

Approximately 33.4% of population are below 15 years of age. Almost 46% of the population is below 20 years. This is an indication of economic under development of this district. due to high child dependency. Women outnumber men in the Amatole district municipality.:46% of the population are males and 54% are females.

Population Pyramid:

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Area Information:

Square km – 23,675
Total Population - 1,664,258
Male - 771,398 (46.4%)
Female - 892,853 (53.6%)
Africans - 1,539,348 (92.49%)
Coloured - 52,178 (3.13%)
Indian - 4,789 (0.3%)
White - 67,945 (4.08%)
0-4 Years - 147,095 (8.9%)
0-9 Years - 339,455 (20.4%)
0-14 years – 556,044 (33.4%)
0-19 Years – 765,033 (46%)
15-34 Years – 570,697 (34.3%)
35-59 Years - 372,703 (22.4%)
Females 60+ - 103,513
Males 65+ - 40,948
Number of disabled (Estimate) – 91,318 (5.5%)
Human Development Index (HDI) - 0.53
Persons in poverty - 66.7%
Poverty Gap = R1,682 million
Literacy rate = 61.3%
HIV/AID Prevalence – N/A
Prominent occupation – Elementary (25.4%)
Biggest Employer - Public/Gov Sector (28.5%)
Unemployment rate – 57.6%
Not economically active – 51.5%
Number of households – 416,970
Annual Household Income 0-R6000 – 51.6 %
Annual Household Income 0-R18000 – 77.9%
Annual Household Income 0-R42000 – 88.9%

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