Image Source: StatsSA
Local – Despite the decline in extreme poverty, newly released data by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) showed that poverty remained deeply entrenched, particularly among children and young people.
The figures, published in Stats SA’s latest national poverty lines report, pointed to a country making limited gains at the lowest end of the poverty scale.
While food poverty showed signs of decline, the broader picture remained largely unchanged, with poverty continuing to affect a significant share of the population across age groups and provinces.
Acting Deputy Director-General at Stats SA, Solly Molayi, said children continued to be the most affected by deprivation.
He explained that poverty remained heavily concentrated among younger age groups, with more than 70% of people under the age of 35 classified as poor under the lower-bound poverty line.
According to Molayi, this reflected deeper structural problems in the economy, where high youth unemployment and limited access to opportunities continued to trap children and young people in cycles of poverty.
“Children are still the face of poverty, where we are seeing more of our young ones as actually experiencing poverty, especially food poverty… This is our youth. This is our children.”
The data also highlighted the extent to which government intervention continued to shape poverty outcomes. Social grants and remittances played a critical role in reducing extreme poverty, with millions relying on this income to meet basic needs.
Without this support, the number of people classified as food poor would rise sharply, underscoring the continued dependence on social protection.
“If you take out the income, which is the social grant and also remittance… the number moves from 10.8 million to about 19 million.”
Why Income Still Matters
According to Molayi, the latest report focused on income-based poverty, using national poverty lines to classify deprivation.
This approach assessed household income and expenditure to determine whether individuals were able to meet minimum food and non-food needs.
He explained that three thresholds were used to measure poverty severity. These included the food poverty line, the lower-bound poverty line and the upper-bound poverty line, which together provided a clearer picture of how poverty was distributed across the population.
“Yesterday we released a report where we are looking at the national poverty lines… It means that you are having less than [x amount of] rands, which places you below the food poverty line.”
Despite some progress, Molayi warned that child and youth poverty remained a pressing concern. With national targets aimed at eliminating poverty by 2030, he cautioned that the window for meaningful intervention was narrowing.
He said the data should be used to inform policy decisions and guide programmes aimed at supporting vulnerable communities.
“We are only left with five years… This data is available on our website… to assist in terms of making sure that this data you can able to understand it and make it much easier for people to able to use it.”
