75% of SA kids live in poverty
2002-08-27 22:20
Johannesburg - About 75% of children younger than 17 lived below the poverty line of R400 per month in 1999, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) said on Tuesday.
A further 57% lived below the poverty line of R200 per
month, according to a Child Poverty Monitor released by Idasa.
The aim of the Child Poverty Monitor was to disseminate the main findings of recent research that used the 1999 and 1995 October Household Survey data to measure the extent and depth of child poverty in South Africa.
About 14.3 million children aged under 17, and 5.2 million children aged under six, lived below a poverty line of R400 per month per capita in 1999 rands, which translates into R490 in 2002 rands.
Poverty levels were the highest in the Eastern Cape (88%), Northern Province (84%) and KwaZulu-Natal (80%).
Forty-six percent of the children in the Western Cape were poor
(living on an income below R400 per month) while the number was 55% in Gauteng.
- SAPA