Statistics and South Africa Poverty

Last year, a World Bank report said that due to South Africa's “slightly progressive” tax system and “highly progressive” government spending, around 3.6 million people have been lifted out of poverty, halving the number of South Africans living on less than $1.25 a day. Because of grants, free basic services and taxes favouring the poor, the poverty rate dropped from 46.2% to 39%.

This week Statistics South Africa used different figures to count those living in poverty. Using the Income Expenditure Survey from 2010/11, which updated and reweighed a basket of goods and services after collecting data from 25,000 households, Stats SA's new poverty lines come from a cost-of-basic-needs approach, including both food and non-food. It calculates the minimum amount of money you need to survive. It uses three lines of poverty – the food poverty line (FPL), the lower bound poverty line (LBPL) and the upper bound poverty line (UBPL). The FPL sets the rand value below which you can't purchase enough food to meet a minimum energy intake, about 2,100 kilo-calories a day. The next two categories take into account other needs. Those below the LBPL line don't have enough money to purchase both adequate food items and non-food items, so they have to sacrifice food to pay for things like transport and airtime. The UBPL group are still considered in poverty, but can generally purchase both food and non-food items. In 2014 the food poverty line is R400 per capita per month while the lower and upper bound poverty lines are R544 and R753 per capita per month, respectively.

Essentially, the latest statistics say that 21.7% of South Africans live in extreme poverty, not being able to pay for basic nutritional requirements; 37% of people don't have enough money to purchase both adequate food items and non-food items so they have to sacrifice food to pay for things like transport and airtime; 53.8% of people can afford enough food and non-food items but fall under the widest definition of poverty in SA, surviving on under R779 per month. So despite the World Bank's recognition of South Africa's efforts to reduce poverty, many people are still struggling. These figures make it hard to see how poverty is decreasing.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-02-03-south-africa-where-12-million-live-in-extreme-poverty/#.VNG92Z2UeJY