AI Job Atlas
AI & jobs · Province in South Africa

Eastern Cape

Province ZA-EC Largest city: Port Elizabeth
27%
of jobs here are estimated to be exposed to generative AI, below the national 27% (−0.4 pts).
MODEL5th of 9 regions564K exposed workers

Key numbers

PopulationWIKIDATA
7.2M
as of 2022
Share of national populationWIKIDATA
11.7%
3rd largest of 9
People in workMODEL
2.1M
national total × population share
Highest-exposure jobsMODEL
6.0%
national 6.1%
Area
169K km²
43 people per km²
Settlement patternMODEL
Mixed
32% live in major cities
Largest city
Port Elizabeth
1M (metro)
Mapped towns & cities
14
Natural Earth places

AI use

ANTHROPIC

Claude.ai conversations, April–May 2026.

Usage intensityANTHROPIC
0.17×
usage share ÷ population share
Share of national useANTHROPIC
2.0%
11.7% of population
Work-relatedANTHROPIC
27%
national 45%
Automation-styleANTHROPIC
43%
national 51%
Augmentation 57%Automation 43%

Sector mix

MODEL

Estimated share of jobs by sector, against the national mix.

Eastern Cape South Africa
Retail & wholesale 17.0%
Other services 10.8%
Manufacturing 10.2%
Business services 10.1%
Health & care 9.0%
Construction 7.9%
Transport & logistics 7.7%
Education 6.3%
Agriculture 5.4%
Public admin 4.5%
Hospitality 3.9%
Mining 3.0%
Finance 2.1%
ICT & software 1.5%
Utilities 0.7%

Exposed workers by sector

MODEL
Retail & wholesale 112K Health & care 72.3K Business services 67.4K Education 54.2K Other services 47K Public admin 44.8K Transport & logistics 36.6K Manufacturing 34.5K

Ranking in South Africa

MODEL

By modelled AI exposure, out of 9 regions.

2Western Cape 28% 3Free State 27% 4KwaZulu-Natal 27% 5Eastern Cape 27% 6North West 26% 7Northern Cape 25% 8Mpumalanga 25%
About these estimates. No source publishes AI exposure by region for every country. The model splits South Africa's real ILO sector employment across regions using population (Wikidata) and density: denser, capital-city regions get more finance, ICT and professional jobs, and rural regions more farming. Totals match national figures. AI usage figures are measured, not modelled. Methodology

Other regions of South Africa

All of South Africa →