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The objective of this section is to present the best available data on a wide range of health and related indicators. This should provide health planners and managers with easy access to data from a variety of sources.

Rural (non-urban) percentage

Definition	Proportion of population living in a non-urban environment. Non-urban, or rural areas include commercial farms, small settlements, rural villages and other areas which are further away from towns and cities. The definition includes semi-urban areas which are not part of a legally proclaimed urban area, but adjoin it.
Reference	Statistics South Africa. Census in Brief. The people of South Africa population census 1996. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa; 1998.
Ref. URL	http://www.statssa.gov.za/
Keywords

Indicator Type: -> Demographic -> Distribution

Rural (non-urban) percentage [Definition]
	EC	FS	GP	KZN	LP	MP	NC	NW	WC	ZA
1996	63.4	31.4	3.0	56.9	89.0	60.9	29.9	65.1	11.1	[1] 46.3
2001	61.2	24.2	2.8	54.0	86.7	58.7	17.3	58.2	9.6	[2] 42.5
EC: Eastern Cape FS: Free State GP: Gauteng KZN: KwaZulu-Natal LP: Limpopo MP: Mpumalanga NC: Northern Cape NW: North West WC: Western Cape ZA: South Africa

Census 1996: Statistics South Africa. Census in Brief. The people of South Africa population census 1996. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa; 1998. http://www.statssa.gov.za/
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Table 2.4
Urban and Rural definition: Statistics South Africa. Census 2001: Investigation into appropriate definitions of urban and rural areas for South Africa. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa; 2003. http://www.statssa.gov.za/
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Note that there are some differences between Census 2001 and Census 1996 regarding the classification of the country into urban and rural areas. This report identifies these differences and then gives some suggestions on objective means of measurement, as well as reclassifying EAs for purpose of comparison between the Censuses. With the reclassification of the 1996 Census figures the national rural percentage is given as 44.9% (compared to 46.3% originally).