Savings shock for one group of South Africans
In the first quarter of 2026, Stats SA reported that 4.7 million young South Africans aged 15 to 34 were unemployed, with many unable to save more than R500 a month.
Stats SA defines youth as individuals aged 15 to 34 years. In the first quarter of 2025, the official youth unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 34 was 46.1%; for those aged 15 to 24, it was 62.4%; and for those aged 25 to 34, it was 40.4%.
The current figure for the first quarter of 2026 represents an increase of 181,000 unemployed individuals compared to the previous quarter.
As a result, the youth unemployment rate rose to 45.8% in the first quarter of 2026. BrandMapp’s Youth Report recorded that 28% of youth in South Africa save less than R500 a month.
The report is based on the largest annual surveys of South African adults in the consumer class.
The dataset uses a sample of more than 31,000 respondents to profile the 14 million adults living in mid- to top-income households earning in excess of R10 000 per month.
The data also indicated that a further 25% of South African youth manage to save between R501 and R1,000 every month.
“High rates of youth unemployment, poverty, educational frustrations and inequalities naturally dominate our national conversations about young people,” said BrandMapp Director of Storytelling Brandon De Kock.
Combined, over half of SA’s youth consumer class is saving less than R1 000 a month. The report also indicated that 26% of the youth are putting away between R1,001 and R5,000 monthly.
“Youth aren’t uniform; there’s a financially active, savings-conscious cohort sitting alongside a much larger group for whom saving remains aspirational,” said De Kock.
The comparison with older consumers reveals that the rest tend to skew more towards the R1,001-R5,000 bracket and above, suggesting that saving capacity increases with age and career advancement.
Salaries are not relative to the cost of living
“The thing is, for younger people, progress is uneven, with everyday expenses absorbing much of the gain,” said BrandMapp Youth Specialist, Ashleigh Cumming.
“The result is a version of adulthood that feels a bit extended and fragmented rather than a straightforward path. Older generations almost certainly enjoyed a quicker journey, with income naturally leading to independent living and asset building,” she said.
Cumming said that the challenge isn’t only income, it’s purchasing power and that in today’s economy, financial progress is much less linear for the youth.
She said that relative salaries have not kept pace with the cost of housing, transport, education and everyday living expenses, which has reduced young people’s ability to convert earnings into financial freedom.
“They aren’t living ‘hand-to-mouth’, but they certainly are living paycheck-to-paycheck. And the good news is that they have gotten pretty good at it,” said Cumming.
South Africa’s youth are increasingly being denied access to formal lines of credit due to rising unemployment. As a result, many are turning to illegal lenders for financial support.
Sebastien Alexanderson, the head of National Debt Advisors, said that young people are inheriting their parents’ dreams but lack the economic conditions to achieve them.
“A generation ago, a first job could reasonably lead to a first car, a deposit on a flat, and eventually a bond; today that financial scaffolding has completely collapsed,” said Alexanderson.
“A monthly grocery basket alone costs R5,443, a staggering 263% surge since 2009, completely swallowing a full-time minimum wage salary of R4,600 before rent, transport, or debt are even factored in.”
Alexanderson said that as student debt triples and the average NSFAS loan rises from R30,000 to R90,000, many graduates are forced to seek credit before they have had a fair chance to establish their financial independence.
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