Life getting better: Stats SA

2007-10-24 19:38

Cape Town - Life is improving steadily, at least in the area of housing and basic service delivery, for the 48m people living in South Africa, according to Statistics SA.

The organisation on Thursday released the first results of its 2007 Community Survey, based on responses from some 255 000 households.

The survey, the biggest household survey ever undertaken in South Africa, was instituted to fill the gap created by the government's decision to hold censuses every ten years instead of five.

"Substantial progress has been made with regard to improving the living conditions of South Africans," Stats SA said in releasing the results.

At the same time it warned that fertility and mortality trends meant the size of South Africa's labour force was growing.

"Specific measures will need to be taken to ensure that this group is effectively deployed," it said.

According to the survey, 70.5% of households now live in formal dwellings, reflecting what Stats SA said was a "steady increase" from 64.4% in the 1996 census, and 68.5 in 2001.

The proportion of households with access to piped water grew from 84.5% in 2001 to 88.6% this year, with the Western Cape, not surprisingly, leading the pack with a figure of 98.9%.

Drop in use of bucket toilets

Households still using bucket toilets halved to just over 2% though just over 8% still had no access to any toilet facility.

Use of electricity as the main energy source for lighting increased from 69.7% in 2001 to 80% this year.

The Eastern Cape had the lowest proportion, just under two thirds of households, using electricity for this purpose.

The survey found that the number of households owning a cellphone has more than doubled over the past six years.

In 2001 it was 32.3%, this year it stood at just under 80%.

This was accompanied by a swing away from landlines.

Also showing a notable increase was the proportion of households owning a radio, television and refrigerator "in working order".

Those owning a computer almost doubled to 15.7%, but only 7.3% had internet access at home.

Fewer pro rata with Gr 12 schooling

In the area of education, the proportion of people over 20 with "some secondary" education grew from 30.8% in 2001 to 40.1% this year, though the percentage of those with a Grade 12 qualification dropped from 20.4 to 18.6.

Though there was also a slight drop in the percentage of over-20s who had completed primary education, there was a substantial decrease, from 18 to 10%, in those who had no schooling at all.

The number of persons aged from five to 24 years who were in schools had increased by over 10% over the last decade to 74%, and the figure was now over 90% for those between six and 15 years old.

"This indicates that the goal toward the achievement of universal primary education has almost been met," Stats SA said.

However there were still significant disparities: whites had the highest percentage of children in school and coloureds the lowest.

According to Stats SA, its staff used some 50 000 pencils, 30 000 pens, 15 000 erasers and 50 000 rubber bands to compile the survey.

- SAPA