{"id":815248,"date":"2025-03-06T14:06:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T12:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=815248"},"modified":"2025-03-06T14:06:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T12:06:56","slug":"south-africas-ticking-time-bomb-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/815248\/south-africas-ticking-time-bomb-2\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s ticking time bomb"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa’s population may still be young, but it is ageing, and more elderly people are becoming dependent on the working population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from a recent Stats SA report, South African Age-Sex Structure, 1996-2022: Is the Population Ageing?<\/em>, shows that the age and sex structure in South Africa’s 2022 Census aligns with expectations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compositional distribution patterns show a bulge, suggesting the dominance of the youth in the population structure of South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The median age is the age that divides the country into two parts of equal size, half of which is ‘young’ and half of which is ‘old.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stats SA said the median age under 20 is described as young, 20\u201329 as intermediate, and 30 and older as old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A constant rise in the median over time suggests that the population is ageing. Results show that the median age in South Africa increased from 22 years in 1996 to 28 years in 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although most provinces recorded median ages in the 20s, Gauteng and the Westen Cape recorded “old” populations at 30 and 31, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a racial level, the median age for black Africans remains youthful. However, Indians\/Asians and the white populations are old according to standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Indian\/Asian and white population groups observed a median age of 37 and 45, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stats SA said that this development may be associated with the issue of emigration, which has seen large parts of the white and Indian\/Asian youthful population leaving the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statistics body said that many are leaving the country for better economic opportunities, but this can have serious economic implications for the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the white and Indian\/Asian populations have access to better health services, which promotes longevity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The General Household Survey (GHS) (2023) showed that a higher percentage of the white population (71.7%) and Indian\/Asian population (41.3%) were part of a medical aid scheme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the black African population is still youthful, it is also still ageing, growing from 21 in 1996 to 27 in 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

More old people to support<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although the growing older of some parts of the population is a clear win for a country, it needs to be balanced by an equal or faster-growing youthful population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stats SA said that the old-age dependency ratio measures the proportion of the elderly population aged 65 and older to the working population aged 15\u201364.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stats SA’s data showed that for every 100 working-age adults in 2022, there were 10 elderly people requiring support. This is more than the 8 elderly people in 1996, 2001, and 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the ratio has increased in all provinces from 1996 to 2022. Notably, the Eastern Cape has old-age dependency ratios of 13, while Limpopo and the Free State stand at 11. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statistics body said that the increase in the ratio in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo may be due to return migration, especially in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results by population group again showed different levels, with the ratio for black Africans remaining stable at 7 from 1996 to 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it has increased dramatically for white South Africans from 15 to 33. This means that for every 100 working-age white adults in 2022, 33 elderly persons needed support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Indian\/Asian and coloured population groups have also seen increases from 1996 to 2022, with both seeing their ratios roughly doubling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data suggests that the white, Indian\/Asian and coloured population groups are becoming increasingly dependent as the elderly population increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A high old-age dependency ratio places severe strain on the economy, with more strain on the healthcare sector and social support services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fundamentally, a lower number of workers have to support a growing number of the elderly, with possible increased taxes and worker shortages hurting a country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the case for several developed countries, most notably Japan, where large amounts of the population are elderly, with the country struggling to see economic growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this is becoming a clearer risk for certain population groups, South Africa, on the whole, is far away from such a crisis, with a large and youthful population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The age dependency measure, which also includes dependents aged between 0 and 14, is actually on the decline in South Africa, dropping from 64 in 1996 to 49 in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is important to note that dependency ratios do not account for employment levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the high unemployment rate in South Africa, employed South Africans may actually have a far higher number of people that they are actually supporting. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: Stats SA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data from Stats SA shows that South Africa’s population remains young, but old-age dependents are rapidly growing in number.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":815642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[1809],"class_list":["post-815248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815248","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815248"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":815643,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815248\/revisions\/815643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}