There are two sides to every coin. Service delivery in South Africa is often measured from the demand side, via household surveys and the Population Census. What you might not know about is that data also exist for the supply side, collected from those who provide services. Every year Stats SA asks municipalities to provide   read more »

Economic growth is often quite lumpy. A national measure of gross domestic product (GDP) is useful to gauge how a country is doing as a whole. Still, it misses the fact that economic activity varies across towns, cities and regions. Stats SA’s most recent quarterly GDP release provides national data for the entire year of   read more »

Jobs in the formal non-agricultural sector increased by 76 000 in the fourth quarter of 2020, bringing the total number of persons employed in the formal non-agricultural sector in South Africa to approximately 9,64 million. This is according to the Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES, Q4:2020) survey released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). Year-on-year, formal sector   read more »

MEDIA ADVISORY                                                                                            25 March 2021   Statistician-General to release the results of the Non-financial census of municipalities, 2019 The Statistician-General of South Africa, Mr Risenga Maluleke, will release the results of the Non-Financial Census of Municipalities (NFCM) 2019, at a media briefing to be held on Wednesday, 31 March 2021 in Pretoria. The NFCM   read more »

Headline inflation slowed to 2,9% in February from 3,2% in January, the lowest reading since June last year when the rate was 2,2%. This is the third time in the past 12 months that the annual rate has slipped below the bottom end of the South African Reserve Bank’s inflation target range. Inflation was below   read more »

Single ladies, if you’re wondering why your man hasn’t proposed yet, perhaps he’s waiting to turn 37? According to a report released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), Marriages and Divorces, 2019, the median age of bridegrooms increased from 36 years in 2015 to 37 years in 2019. Similarly, the age of brides increased from   read more »

On 14 February 2021, the rand was turning 60 years. The rand was first introduced as a South African currency on 14 February 1961, the year South Africa became a republic and Queen Elizabeth ceased to be head of state. The rand takes its name from the Witwatersrand – the ridge on which Johannesburg is   read more »

If you work with gross domestic product (GDP) data or have an interest in economic statistics, the following note might be important to you. Stats SA announced in its most recent GDP statistical release1 that it will no longer use the annualised rate as the headline rate of change. There are several measures of economic   read more »

South Africa’s GDP decreased by 7,0% in 2020 compared with 2019. To provide some perspective, the second biggest fall in GDP in the last 30 years was recorded in 1992 when the economy contracted by 2,1%. During the 2008/09 global financial crisis, the economy shrank by 1,5% in 2009. Explore economic growth, as well as   read more »

Stats SA’s Gross domestic product (GDP) release for the fourth quarter of 2020 (October–December) concludes the series for the year, providing a sobering overview of 2020.   Manufacturing and trade help lift growth in the fourth quarter The economy grew by 1,5% in the fourth quarter, giving an annualised1 growth rate of 6,3%. This follows   read more »