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<\/a><\/p>\nAccording to Stats SA, approximately 30.4 million people were living below the upper-bound poverty line (55.5% of the population), while 13.8 million (25.2%) were living in extreme poverty below the food poverty line.<\/p>\n
Though South Africa saw a marked decrease in people living in poverty between 2006 and 2011 – the numbers jolted upward between that period and 2015.<\/p>\n Levels of poverty differ significantly across provinces, with the Eastern Cape (72.9%), Limpopo (72.4%), and KwaZulu-Natal (68.1%) recording the highest levels of poverty in 2015, while the Western Cape (37.1%) and Gauteng (33.3%) had the lowest levels.<\/p>\n An individual’s educational level is closely related to poverty, Stats SA’s data showed – 79.2% of individuals with no formal education were poor, compared to only 8.4% of individuals who had a post-matric qualification in 2015.<\/p>\n As part of its presentation, Stats SA provided a graphic showing how poor households compared to ‘non-poor’ households in the country – highlighting income, expenditure, and access to basic services.<\/p>\n One of the biggest contrasts in poor and on-poor budgets, is the difference in spending on basic needs like food. In a poor household’s budget, food expenditure amounts to R9,487 (for a family of 5), taking up 30% of monthly spend.<\/p>\n In non-poor households, while more is spent – R15,831 for a family of three – this makes up only 10.5% of the budget.<\/p>\n The average ‘non-poor’ household in South Africa has a combined annual income of R199,267, or R16,600 per month. A poor household only has R46,624 per year, or R3,885 per month.<\/p>\n<\/a>
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