Census Administrative & Service Provision District Profiles 2022
South Africa, 2022
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zaf-statssa-casd-2022-v1
Census Administrative & Service Provision District Profiles 2022
CASD 2022
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | zaf |
| Type | Identifier |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.25828/wafz-wj19 |
CASD 2022 is the Census 2022 Special District Layer data product released by Statistics SA in 2025 https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=18624 DataFirst has standardized terminology and matched geographic levels to this version of the data. The Special District Layer data is at the level of Administrative and Service Level District. These are operational planning geographies used by public institutions in South Africa. The data was released to support the analysis of population and household characteristics within administrative reporting and service delivery divisions. Administrative and Service Level Districts include Education, Health, and Police districts and Judicial divisions (Magisterial Districts). Unlike for previous censuses, Statistics SA has not released the Census 2022 Community Profile data (at the level of Main Place, Sub-place and Ward). But the Magisterial District geodata in this dataset can be used to analyze data across censuses by Magisterial District.
The dataset includes data on demographic distribution, household composition, social conditions, and the spatial allocation of public services. The primary reasons for producing district-level data were:
- to make the Census 2022 results usable within real-world service delivery situations
- to reveal how population and household patterns differ across districts
- to enable Census data to better inform planning, policy formulation, and resource allocation and monitoring.
Census/enumeration data [cen]
Households and individuals
Version
v1.1: Edited, anonymised data for public distribution
2026-04-01
DataFirst
The CASD 2022 data are intended for geographic analysis. For more technical and complex analyses, researchers are advised to use the 10% South Africa Census Sample, available at https://doi.org/10.25828/efbb-k295
Scope
Because the COVID-19 pandemic affected key phases of geography frame finalisation and data collection of the census, a multi-mode data collection approach was adopted. Three methods of data collection were used in this census, namely: face to face computer assisted personal interview (CAPI); computer assisted telephone interview (CATI); and computer-assisted web interview (CAWI).
Coverage
The geographic scope of the data is national coverage
The data is at the level of Administrative and Service Level District which is a geographic division used by government planners (Education, Health, and Police districts), as well as at the level of Judicial division (Magisterial District). Statistics SA has not released the Census 2022 Community Profile data (by Main Place (city/town/village) or Sub-place (suburb)). However, the Magisterial District division in this dataset can be used to analyse data by Magisterial District, including the seat of the Magisterial District court (variable=md_seat ).
Education Administrative and Service Delivery District (ASDD); Health ASDD; Judicial ASDD (Magisterial District); Police ASDD
South African Census 2022 covered every person present in South Africa on the Census reference night, midnight of 2-3 February 2022 including all de jure household members and residents of institutions.
| West | East | South | North |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14.062712 | 33.090851 | -35.101934 | -22.105999 |
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa |
Study authorization
1999, 2024
| Agency name | Affiliation | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa | StatsSA |
Statistics SA is authorised to collect data by the Statistics Act 1999 and the Statistics Amendment Act of 2024
Sampling
Coverage errors are a measure of how many persons or households were missed or counted more than once in the census.
The final net coverage error rate relative to the final true population of 61,4 million persons is 31,1%. The final net coverage error rate relative to the final true population of 19,3 million households is 30,5%.
Data Collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2022-02-02 | 2022-05 |
Cross-section [cross section]
| Name | Affiliation | Abbreviation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | Government of South Africa | StatsSA | Data collectors and producers |
Data processing
DataFirst prepared the Census Administrative & Service Provision District Profiles 2022 tables downloaded from Stats SA’s website and standardised the file names so that each data file could be easily identified and managed. Using R, DataFirst linked each Excel table to the corresponding official district boundary shapefile and appended higher-level geographic identifiers, such as district municipality and province, to every record. As part of this step, district names were standardised to ensure consistent matching across files, unnecessary columns with total were removed, and the revised tables were written back to Excel. DataFirst then used Stata to import the cleaned tables, assign consistent and self-explanatory variable names, apply descriptive variable labels, and save the final datasets. The accompanying R script documents the geographic matching and enrichment process, while the Stata do-file documents the variable renaming and labelling process.
quality_standards
Census 2022 data collected with the sections of the questionnaire documented below have not been released by Statistics SA because reporting and coverage biases makes the data unreliable:
Section F: Income
Section G: Employment
Section H: Fertility
Section I: Housing, Household Goods and Household Services
Section J: Agricultural Activities and Food Security
Section K: Mortality in the last 12 months
DataFirst has provided a spreadsheet listing the excluded variables which can be downloaded from the Census 2022 10% sample dataset webpage.
Data appraisal
Content errors indicate the quality of key characteristics in the census. With respect to content errors, six variables were tested for consistency in terms of the responses that were recorded in the Census and the Post-enumeration Survey (PES) 2022. The aggregated index of inconsistency was 7,5% for population group, 8,2% for sex, and 13,6% for age group, indicating a high level of agreement. The aggregated index of inconsistency for marital status was 23,0%, relationship to head of household was 34,8%, and country of birth was 42,3%, indicating moderate rates of agreement.
Access policy
DataFirst data repository
Statistics South Africa's Isibalo site
Depositor information
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statistics South Africa | StatsSA | Government of South Africa | https://www.statssa.gov.za |
2025-08-25
Distributor information
| Organization name | Affiliation | URL |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za |
2026
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | https://support.data1st.org | support@data1st.org |
Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 attribution license
Statistics South Africa. Census Administrative & Service Provision District Profiles 2022 [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: StatsSA and DataFirst [producers], 2025. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/wafz-wj19
Researchers agree to cite the data in their publications using the recommended citation in this metadata record, including the DOI (unique dataset identifier)
Researchers agree to send DataFirst a link to any research publication based on the data
Contacts
| Name | URL | |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst Support | support@data1st.org | https://www.support@data1st.org |
Metadata production
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | DF | University of Cape Town | Metadata producer |
2026-04-01
Metadata version
Version 1