The Republic of South Africa (population 44.76 million) is located at the southern tip of the African continent and covers an area of around 1,220,000 square kilometres. Its boundaries border Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho.

Pretoria is the capital of South Africa, although Cape Town is the legislative centre and the judicial centre is Bloemfontein. For administration purposes, the country is divided into nine provinces; Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North-West, Northern Cape, and Western Cape

According to the United Nations human development index (HDI), South Africa is ranked 119/177 countries worldwide (value 0.666)¹ and 4/45 African countries for which an index is available. This places South Africa in the group of countries with medium human development.