The Municipal Demarcation Board provides extensive demographics about all urban areas, which include the following demographics about Buffalo City. These figures exclude people whose status is unknown:

General

• Number of households: 160 454
• African residents: 563 776
• Coloured residents: 38 391
• Indian residents: 4 692
• White residents: 70 520
• Male residents: 321 992
• Female residents: 360 023

Age breakdown

• Under four: 61 234
• 5-19: 214 987
• 20-29: 127 841
• 30-49: 176 675
• 50-64: 59 934
• Over 65: 34 824

Employment

• Employed: 160 156
• Unemployed: 101 349

Occupation

• Senior management: 6 663
• Professional: 17 022
• Technical: 12 591
• Clerks: 12 604
• Service related: 14 484
• Skilled: 3 294
• Craft and trade: 21 715
• Plant machine: 12 279
• Elementary: 39 440

Annual individual income

• None: 414 152
• R1 to 24: 114 706
• R23 to R60: 62 965
• R60 to RR120: 39 442
• R120 to R180: 30 351
• R180 to R300: 25 602
• R300 to R420: 14 744
• R420 to R540: 10 069
• R540 to R720: 8 274
• R720 to R960: 3 930
• R960 to R1,32m: 2 588
• R1,32m to R1,92m: 1 403
• R1,9m to R3,6m: 816
• Over R3,6m: 281

The Eastern Cape Provincial Government website has statistics and demographic information that help to give a complete picture of what life is like for those living in Buffalo City.

Basic statistics
Provincial capital: Bhisho
Principal languages:

• IsiXhosa 83,8%
• Afrikaans 9,6%
• English 3,7%
• SeSotho 2,2%

Population
Population: 6,3-million people
Percentage of national total: 15,5%
The population of the Eastern Cape was approximately 6,7 million in 1993, representing 16,4% of the total South African population. Population growth between 1985 and 1993 was 2,6%, slightly higher than the national average of 2,4%. Half of the population is between 15 and 65, compared with the national average of 58.3%. About 43% of the province's population is under the age of 15. 55% of the population is functionally urbanised but only a third live in official towns.

Area
Area: 69 580km²
Area as a percentage of total: 13,9%
The Eastern Cape is the second largest province in South Africa.

Economy
GDP (1995): R49,6634-million
Percentage of total: 13,3%
The Eastern Cape is the poorest province in terms of average on monthly expenditure, followed by Free State and the Northern Province according to the Statistics SA report: Measuring Poverty in South Africa. The wealthiest provinces were Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape.