Hindus around the world face human rights violations due to a variety of factors. The countries in which human rights violations are consistently severe for Hindus are documented in the annual Hindu Human Rights Reports. This page includes information about some human rights issues affecting Hindus in a country where Hindus are not consistently targeted.
South Africa is diverse country with a rich and complex history. Within this history, the racial tensions of the country have been a continuous struggle within which Indian Hindus have continuously been targeted for their ethnic identities.
Civil Unrest August 2021
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South Africa
Location
Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of Africa
Population
56,978,635 (July 2021 est.)
Religions
Christian 86%, ancestral, tribal, animist, or other traditional African religions 5.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other 1.5%, nothing in particular 5.2% (2015 est.)
Ethnic Groups
Black African 80.9%, Colored 8.8%, White 7.8%, Indian/Asian 2.5% (2018 est.)
Languages
isiZulu (official) 25.3%, isiXhosa (official) 14.8%, Afrikaans (official) 12.2%, Sepedi (official) 10.1%, Setswana (official) 9.1%, English (official) 8.1%, Sesotho (official) 7.9%, Xitsonga (official) 3.6%, siSwati (official) 2.8%, Tshivenda (official) 2.5%, isiNdebele (official) 1.6%, other (includes Khoi, Nama, and San languages) 2%; note – data represent language spoken most often at home (2018 est.)
Demographic information is based on the Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency, 2020)