Africa: Explainer - International Migrants, Jobs and Crime in South Africa: What Do the Numbers Show?

What the report says

AllAfrica republished an Africa Check explainer by Keegan Leech on 20 July 2026 examining claims about international migrants in South Africa amid a rise in anti-migrant protests. The report says hostility in 2026 has included intimidation, exclusion from public services and deadly violence, while misinformation has circulated around the scale of migration, jobs and crime.

According to the explainer, official data does not support claims that South Africa hosts “tens of millions” of migrants. Statistics South Africa’s 2022 census estimated 2.4 million migrants, about 3.9% of the national population, while a 2022/23 income and expenditure survey estimated 3.1 million, or 5.1%. Africa Check notes that census methods do not automatically exclude undocumented people, because the survey asks about movement rather than legal status. Stats SA’s Diego Itarrulde told Africa Check that irregular migrants are a subset of the total migrant figures, but not undercounted by “tens of millions.”

The report also challenges broad claims that migrants dominate the economy or are a main cause of unemployment. It cites Wits University researcher Justin Visagie’s estimate that migrants held about 415,000 of 11 million formal jobs in 2024, or 3.7%, and may have accounted for about 18.3% of informal employment using 2022 data. Africa Check says some local concentrations of migrant workers or business owners may be visible, but should not be treated as representative of the whole economy.

The explainer adds that South Africa does face real migration governance problems, including weak border management, asylum backlogs and labour-law enforcement gaps. Its central finding is that these problems do not prove sweeping narratives blaming migrants for unemployment, failing services or crime.