Editor: Dr Saul Issroff
Copyright © 1999-2000 Saul Issroff, Mike Getz, SAfrica SIG
and Jewishgen Inc.
This page URL: http://www.jewishgen.org/SAfrica/dubb-1.htm
Revised: 17 February 2000

Just prior to Union, the official censuses of the two Crown Colonies and two Boer republics recorded 38,101 persons professing the Jewish faith.
 
At that time, and until the 1980 census, over 95% of white South Africans responded to the question about religious affiliation, and it was generally accepted that the results were reliable. Thus the Jewish population of South Africa comprised all (and only) those who had declared their religion to be Jewish in the official census. Despite this limitation, the official statistics were assumed to be a reasonable reflection of the size of the community.
 
In the 1991 census, however, there was a change in the wording of the question on religion: for the first time, respondents were specifically informed that the question was optional. In all previous censuses, only enumerators were informed of this. The consequence of this change was that the number of whites who refused to answer the question rose from 4.5% in 1981 to 20% in 1991. This meant that, for the first time since Union, the national census did not provide definitive statistics on either the size of the community, or on its demographic, social and economic characteristics.
 
"How many Jews in South Africa?  The truth is that there is no way of really knowing. Had there been no known, drastic changes it might have been possible - using birth rates, death rates and other demographic tools - to arrive at a reasonably close estimate. But since the mid-70's thousands of Jews have emigrated from South Africa, some have re-immigrated, and some (mainly Israelis) have immigrated.
 
In addition, internal mobility into Johannesburg and Cape Town has increased, while small- and medium-size communities have dwindled dramatically or even disappeared. Not only are there no complete and accurate records of these migratory movements, but their effect on distributions of age, gender and socio-economic characteristics can also not be accurately determined. All this adds up to even greater difficulty and uncertainty in trying to estimate the population.
 
Thus in a 1991 socio-demographic study, it was concluded that the number of Jews had declined from its peak of 118,000 to something between a maximum of 106,00 and a minimum of 92,000. The most recent estimate appears to be between 80-90,000.
 
We no longer know more or less exactly how many Jews there are in South Africa nor is it likely that we ever will. We shall now have to make do with estimates based on sample surveys, communal lists, and the application of assumed demographic indices. What needs to be known about South African Jewry today is, more important than size, the present nature and quality of Jewish life, immediate and future community needs, and the place of the Jew in the new, democratic South Africa.