Survey: Fewer South Africans go hungry

This according to the 2013 General Household Survey, released by Statistics SA. South African households that experienced hunger dropped between 2002 and 2013 from 29.3 to 13.4 percent, while the percentage of individuals who suffered hunger decreased from 23.8 to 11.4 percent over the same period. It further found that although households’ access to food had improved since 2002, it had remained static since 2011.

The survey is published yearly and tracks development indicators as well as access to services. This survey, conducted from January to December 2013, showed a trend of wide disparities between the provinces across all indicators, including access to food, education, water and sanitation, housing and energy.

The percentage of households that lived in formal dwellings increased from 52.9 percent in 2002 to 54.9 percent in 2013. Gauteng had the second highest percentage of households who resided in informal dwellings at 19.8 percent.

The survey found that although electricity was the main source of energy for cooking in households, some homes still used coal, firewood and paraffin.

Households in Gauteng, the Western Cape and Free State mostly used electricity while alternative fuels were more popular in homes in Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

According to the survey, the country had seen a substantial improvement in access to water, with 89 percent of homes receiving piped water. However, the satisfaction with the quality of water received had been eroding since 2005.

More households enjoyed access to improved sanitation facilities such as flush toilets or pit toilets with ventilation pipes, increasing from 62.3 percent in 2002 to 77.9 percent in 2013. However, more than a quarter of households that shared toilet facilities complained about the poor hygiene and poor lighting at these facilities.

Meanwhile, nearly 45.5 percent of households received at least one social grant – spiking from the 29.9 percent in 2002.

Mpumalanga and Limpopo had the highest percentage of people who had had no schooling (10.6 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively), while Gauteng had two percent.

The survey also found that the number of literate people over the age of 20 had increased by one percent, from 91.9 percent to 92.9 percent, since the 2010 survey, and Gauteng and the Western Cape had the most people who could read and write. Further, Gauteng had the most adults accessing basic education and training.

Approximately 740 893 students were enrolled at higher educational institutions across the country during 2013, and of these almost two-thirds (66.4 percent) of these students were black African, the survey found. However, proportionally this group is still under represented.

The complete statistical release can be viewed at https://beta2.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0318/P03182013.pdf