South Africa’s powerhouse provinces

Statistics South Africa has published “experimental” data on the gross domestic product (GDP) punch that each of the country’s provinces packs – with Gauteng being the clear leader.

It has been two years since the stats body last published data on provincial GDP, as it opted to overhaul and reframe its metrics.

According the latest data – covering 2022 – South Africa’s total GDP of R6.6 trillion was covered in large by Gauteng. For every R100 produced, Stats SA said that Gauteng was behind R33 of that.

This aligns with the overall framing of the province – the smallest in terms of land mass, but home to the biggest population.

Given its economic weight, Gauteng also saw the biggest GDP growth in rand terms over the last decade, growing its product by R912 billion between 2013 and 2022 – growth of 71%.

“Gauteng may be the smallest of the nine provinces in terms of area size, but it has the largest economy. The economy of Gauteng is larger than the economies of KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape combined,” Stats SA said.

Gauteng has the national reputation of being the province to go when looking for work. This is also reflected in job listings and other data published by jobs portals, which highlight the strong demand for positions and skills in the region.

Stats SA noted, however, that this is also reflected in semigration trends, where Gauteng is expected to see the largest inflow of migrations in the 2021-2026 period, where 1.4 million individuals are expected to make their way to the province.

Other top performers

As is the national trend, KwaZulu Natal and the Western Cape are the second and third biggest GDP contributors.

Both provinces have also seen substantial growth over the last decade, with the Western Cape growing its economy by 69% and KZN by 67% since 2013.

Notably, KZN is the only other province to have a GDP contribution over R1 trillion, with the Western Cape quickly approaching at R918 billion in 2022.

However, while these top three provinces are fairly well known to be the biggest in the country, two other provinces have come out on top in other ways.

Limpopo and Mpumalanga stand out in the data for showing the most significant GDP growth since 2013, boosting their economies by 81.6% and 81.4% over the period, respectively.

While this is off a lower base, this growth is the largest of all the provinces, and has been enough for both provinces to push past the Eastern Cape in the overall ‘ranking’.

Read: The cheapest province to renew your car licence in South Africa