Poverty levels increase in country
Poverty levels remain highest in Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.
WHILE there was a general decline in poverty between 2006 and 2011, poverty levels in South Africa increased in 2015. The poverty trends in South Africa report was released recently by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The stats showed that the proportion of the population living in poverty increased to 55.5 per cent, or 30.4 million, people in 2015.
“Poverty was declining but now it is starting to pick up, and from 2011 to 2015 poverty has actually swung up. If we think about the drought, the negative growth that South Africa is facing, the number of the poor is increasing as a consequence,” said statistician general Pali Lehohla.
According to the report that provides statistics on the current levels of poverty in the country, the number of persons living in extreme poverty (people living below the 2015 Food Poverty Line of R441 per person per month) in the country increased by 2.8 million from 11 million in 2011 to 13.8 million in 2015. However, this was lower than in 2009, when people living in extreme poverty were 16.7 million.
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Poverty alleviation interventions by government include providing 6 000 litres of free water per household, 50 kWh of free electricity per household per month as well as subsidised sewerage and sanitation services.
To date, more than 17 million grants are issued on a monthly basis while government has also delivered 4.3 million RDP houses since 1994.
About 76.2 per cent of learners in South Africa are benefiting from school feeding schemes.
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