On 27 April, South Africans celebrate Freedom Day, to commemorate the day on which the first democratic elections were held in South Africa in 1994. This day has since been celebrated annually in South Africa since the first non-racial democratic elections, marking the establishment of a new democratic government led by Nelson Mandela and a new government   read more »

Employment increased by 18 000 or 0,2% quarter-on-quarter, from 9 672 000 in September 2016 to 9 690 000 in December 2016. This was largely due to increases in the following industries: trade (68 000 or 3,3%), business services (33 000 or 1,6%) and manufacturing (13 000 or 1,1%). The electricity industry remained unchanged. However there were decreases in   read more »

A fall in mining and manufacturing production in the final quarter of 2016 pulled South African economic growth into negative territory, according to preliminary figures of gross domestic product (GDP) released by Stats SA. South Africa’s economy contracted by 0,3% quarter-on-quarter (seasonally adjusted and annualised). The mining industry’s 11,5%1 drop in production was the main   read more »

Some striking charts show how non-profit institutions (NPIs) in South Africa keep themselves afloat. Stats SA’s latest Statistics of the non-profit sector for South Africa report, released earlier this week, provides a range of data on the non-profit sector, including data on where NPIs source their income. The images below show how the major sources   read more »

One of many comparisons between countries is the size of their economies. In the recent past, a number of people noted that Nigeria had overtaken South Africa as the largest economy on the African continent. Subsequently, articles were written about South Africa being pushed into third place by Egypt, only to regain the silver medal   read more »

MEDIA STATEMENT                                                                                                              read more »

The majority of young people aged 20-34 in South Africa have a higher level of education than their parents. This was just one of the findings from a report on Educational Enrolment and Achievement for 2016, which Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) released recently. High-quality training, education, research and innovation are key to the achievement   read more »

Stats SA recently announced changes to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket of goods and services. The changes provide interesting insight into how consumer spending patterns have shifted over the last four years. The basket forms the basis from which the monthly CPI is calculated. There are 412 products and services in the new basket,   read more »

Municipalities in South Africa spent a total of R73,1 billion during the September quarter of 2016. Stats SA’s latest Quarterly Financial Statistics of Municipalities report1 provides an overview of how this money was spent. More than half of municipal expenditure during the September 2016 quarter was on two items: electricity (28,0%) and employee-related costs (27,8%).   read more »

MEDIA ADVISORY                                                                                  08 December 2016 Statistician-General to release formal sector employment statistics for the third quarter of 2016 The Statistician-General of South Africa, Dr Pali Lehohla, will release the Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) for the third quarter of 2016. The QES measures changes in employment across all industries in the formal sector of the economy.   read more »