Stats SA paints grim picture for black children in South Africa

Challenges for a black child in South Africa are many, and the latest report from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is no better.

Stats SA released its Marginalised Groups Indicator Report for 2023 on Tuesday. The report details the South African population that experiences a higher risk of poverty.

According to Stats SA, in 2023, children made up 33.7% of the South African population —  50.1% boys and 49.9% girls.

Children are categorised as those aged 17 years old and younger.

The proportion of children in the total population was highest among black Africans (35.4%) and coloureds (31.9%).

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Limpopo, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga reported the highest proportion of children relative to the total population.

Provinces with the lowest percentage of children were Gauteng and Western Cape.

In 2023, 16.8% of children lived in households that experienced hunger. Those who experienced hunger were most likely to be found in KwaZulu-Natal (28.3%), the Northern Cape (28.2%) and the North West (23.4%).

Although Limpopo was among the provinces with the highest proportion of children relative to the total population, they were less likely to report hunger.

Those living in households without an employed adult accounted for 29% nationally, while the Eastern Cape province alone reported 41.8%.

Child malnutrition

In December last year, Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi painted a grim picture of child malnutrition in the country.

According to Motsoaledi, the number of children under five years old whose deaths in public hospitals were associated with moderate acute malnutrition between 2020 and 2023 is 878.

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About 321 of them were recorded in KwaZulu-Natal, followed by Gauteng with 161 and Mpumalanga with 97.

During those years, 2,951 children’s deaths were associated with severe acute malnutrition in the country.

About 734 were recorded in KwaZulu-Natal, 424 in Gauteng, 423 in Eastern Cape and 413 in Limpopo.

According to the minister, the prevalence of acute malnutrition increased in the post-Covid period.

Malnutrition declined in 2024; however, he said, close monitoring and ongoing efforts are required to ensure further reductions.

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“Reducing malnutrition requires multiple actions implemented by multiple stakeholders. It is difficult to measure and attribute success or failure to isolated interventions.”

Orphans

For a black child, the report noted fathers who are absent or deceased. This as the majority (45.4%) live with their mothers only.

It states 31.5% lived with both their biological parents, while 19% lived with neither.

Approximately 12 % of children were either maternal, paternal or double orphans. Paternal orphans made up 7.8% of the population, double orphans 1.8%, and maternal orphans 2.4%.

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The majority of orphans were black Africans, with a high proportion of them as paternal orphans.

“The living arrangements of children varied by population group. Those of white and Indian/Asian population groups were more likely to live in nuclear households (78.1% and 56.1%, respectively), whilst those of the black African and coloured population groups (65.0% and 52.0%, respectively) were more likely to be in extended households,” reads the report.