SA poverty levels double in a decade

from Mail and Guardian online

Severe poverty levels in South Africa have doubled in the last 10 years, the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) said on Monday.

A survey released by the SAIRR this month showed that poverty in the country increased "dramatically" between 1996 and 2005, said researcher Marius Roodt in a statement.

"Using the globally accepted measure of poverty, of people living on less than one US dollar per day, poverty has increased in South Africa, both in absolute numbers and proportionally.

"In 1996, some 1,9-million South Africans survived on less than one US dollar per day. This had increased to 4,2-million by 2005," said Roodt.

One dollar was equal to R6,69 at 12.20pm on Monday.

An overall increase in poverty in provinces outside of the Western Cape and Gauteng were due to high levels of unemployment and a disproportion between the demand and supply of jobs.

The province with the highest percentage of people living in poverty was Limpopo, followed by KwaZulu-Natal.

The Western Cape had the smallest percentage of its population living on less then a dollar a day -- however this percentage had doubled between 1996 and 2005.

The only other province which had less than 5% of its population living in poverty was Gauteng. Poverty in the province, considered the country's economic powerhouse, also increased substantially from 1% in 1996 to 3,5% in 2005.