_#_Literacy: 76% (male 78%, female 75%) age 15 and over can read and write (1980)
_#_Labor force: 11,000,000 economically active (1989); services 34%, agriculture 30%, industry and commerce 29%, mining 7% (1985)
_#_Organized labor: about 17% of total labor force is unionized; African unions represent 15% of black labor force
_*Government #_Long-form name: Republic of South Africa; abbreviated RSA
_#_Type: republic
_#_Capital: administrative, Pretoria; legislative, Cape Town; judicial, Bloemfontein
_#_Administrative divisions: 4 provinces; Cape, Natal, Orange Free State, Transvaal; there are 10 homelands not recognized by the US—4 independent (Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Transkei, Venda) and 6 other (Gazankulu, Kangwane, KwaNdebele, KwaZulu, Lebowa, QwaQwa)
_#_Independence: 31 May 1910 (from UK)
_#_Constitution: 3 September 1984
_#_Legal system: based on Roman-Dutch law and English common law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations