{"id":621595,"date":"2022-08-31T15:58:03","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T13:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=621595"},"modified":"2022-08-31T15:58:03","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T13:58:03","slug":"how-much-money-the-poorest-in-south-africa-are-living-on-each-month-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/621595\/how-much-money-the-poorest-in-south-africa-are-living-on-each-month-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How much money the poorest in South Africa are living on each month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Statistics South Africa has published its updated national poverty lines for 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Poverty lines are important tools that allow for the statistical reporting of poverty levels and patterns and the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of poverty reduction programmes and policies.<\/p>\n<p>The primary purpose of the national poverty lines is to provide a tool for the statistical measurement of money-metric poverty. The lines contain both food and non-food components of household consumption expenditure.<\/p>\n<p>StatsSA tracks three lines \u2013 the food poverty line, the lower-bound poverty line, and the upper-bound poverty line.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>food poverty<\/strong>\u00a0line is now<strong> R663 per person per month<\/strong>, up from R624 previously (+6.3%). This refers to the amount of money that an individual needs to afford the minimum required daily energy intake. This is also commonly referred to as the \u201cextreme\u201d poverty line;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>lower-bound<\/strong>\u00a0poverty line is now<strong> R945 per person per month<\/strong>, up from R890 previously (+6.2%). This refers to the food poverty line plus the average amount derived from non-food items of households whose total expenditure is equal to the food poverty line;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>upper-bound<\/strong>\u00a0poverty line is now<strong> R1,417 per person per month<\/strong>, up from R1,335 previously (+6.1%). This refers to the food poverty line plus the average amount derived from non-food items of households whose food expenditure is equal to the food poverty line.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The below graph shows how the inflation-adjusted poverty lines have changed from 2006 to 2022.<\/p>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/poverty-lines-2022.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-621601\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/poverty-lines-2022.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"917\" height=\"793\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/poverty-lines-2022.png 917w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/poverty-lines-2022-300x259.png 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/poverty-lines-2022-768x664.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 917px) 100vw, 917px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While the updated national poverty lines help establish a government baseline, they do not accurately reflect the plight of many poor South Africans, who often end up substantially worse off as they provide for themselves and their family members.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice &amp; Dignity group (PMBEJD), approximately 30.4 million people in South Africa live below the old upper-bound poverty line of R1,335. The group estimates that 13.8 million people live below the food poverty line.<\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s data shows that food prices increased significantly over the past year \u2013 rising almost 13% between August 2021 and August 2022 \u2013 far outpacing headline inflation at 7.8% and food inflation at 10.1%.<\/p>\n<p>The household food basket it tracks to gauge inflation in low-income households recorded a slight increase in price month-on-month in August.<\/p>\n<p>The group recorded the average cost of its Household Food Basket for August 2022 at R4,775.59. Month-on-month, the average cost of the basket increased by R26.72 (0.6%), while year-on-year, the basket increased by as much as 12.6% or R534.47.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa&#8217;s grants range from below to far above the country&#8217;s poverty lines.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Old Age grant (75+):\u00a0<\/strong> R2,005<\/li>\n<li><strong>War Veterans grant:<\/strong> R2,005<\/li>\n<li><strong>Old Age grant:<\/strong> R1,985<\/li>\n<li><strong>Care Dependency grant:<\/strong> R1,985<\/li>\n<li><strong>Foster Care grant:<\/strong> R1,070<\/li>\n<li><strong>Child Support grant:<\/strong> R480<\/li>\n<li><strong>Social Relief Distress grant:<\/strong> R350<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The PMBEJD notes, however, that in August 2022 the average cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet per month cost R820.26, meaning the grants do not adequately cover the costs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The high cost of food remains a major crisis for millions of South African families and continues to frustrate peoples need to live a full productive life, to be able to afford proper nutritious food, and be healthy and well and in control of their future,&#8221; the group said.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/621405\/warning-over-meat-prices-in-south-africa\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Warning over meat prices in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Statistics South Africa has published its updated national poverty lines for 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":451704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-621595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":621609,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621595\/revisions\/621609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}