Cape Town — South Africa's population is estimated to have grown by eight million over the past 10 years and progress has been made in improving basic services, according to the 2007 Community Survey.

According to the survey, conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) countrywide, there has been an 8.2 percent increase the country's population which now stands at 48.5 million.

Between 2001 and 2007 the Western Cape showed the highest rate of population growth of 16.1 percent. Gauteng was close behind, with a 13.9 percent increase in population between 2001 and 2007.

Statistician-General Pali Lehohla presented the results of the community survey to President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday, with copies going to Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and his Deputy, Jabu Moleketi.

Welcoming the report, President Mbeki said that the results of the survey are encouraging, and that we are indeed making progress with regard to providing a better life for all.

He said the information around service delivery roll-out was an important read for his Cabinet and he urged Cabinet and members of the government to study the results of the survey carefully.

"Do whatever you can to accelerate progress."

Mr Lehohla said that the survey revealed what South Africans as a whole have to say around service delivery.

A total of 246 618 dwellings were covered and 949 105 persons were counted, while key socio-economic data was extracted at national to provincial and municipal level.

An assessment of the use of electricity for household lighting showed that electricity usage has increased across all provinces, with 80 percent of households in South Africa now using electricity to light their homes at night.

Across the provinces, however, the proportion of people in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal using electrical lighting was below the national average. In the Western Cape almost 94 percent has access to electricity.

By the beginning of this year 88.6 percent of South Africa's population had access to piped water, with all provinces showing an increase.

However, the percentage of households with access to running water in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal fell below the national average.

Gauteng showed the highest level of access with 97.9 percent of households in the province enjoying water.

Sanitation facilities were also assessed by community survey, which showed that just over 60 percent of South African households had access to a flush toilet by this year.

However, Free State, North West and Western Cape were the only provinces where more than 50 percent of households had a flush toilet.

Free State had the highest number of households still using the bucket sanitation system.

More than half of households in Limpopo, 56.3 percent, used a pit latrine without ventilation, while 25.2 percent of households in the Eastern Cape had no toilet facilities at all.

The survey also showed that ownership of radios, television sets, computers, fridges and cellphones had increase considerably since the 2001 Census.

There was a dramatic increase in computer ownership. The figure has almost doubled in the six years since the 2001 census, with 15.7 percent ownership by this year compared with 8.5 percent ownership in 2001.

By this year, 7.3 percent of South African households had Internet facilities.

More predictably the demand for landline telephones showed a decrease, owing to the high use of cell phones, usage of which had grown from 32.3 percent in 2001 to 72.9 percent by this year.

Statistics around education show positive results, with findings revealing that the percentage of the population aged 20 years and older with no formal schooling had declined from 17.9 percent in 2001 to 10.3 percent in 2007.

Almost 28 percent of the population aged 20 years and older has completed at least secondary education.