More people rely on state coffers as the percentage of individuals that benefited from social grants has increased from 12,7% in 2003 to 30,2% in 2013, and the percentage of households that received at least one grant increased from 29,9% to 45,5%. This is according to the latest results of the General Household Survey (GHS) which was conducted by Stats SA between January and December 2013.

The survey further indicates that 73,5% of persons aged 5–24 were attending educational institutions which is about the same than in 2002 when the attendance rate was 73,6%. A lack of money for fees remains the primary reason for a large proportion of individuals in this age group who were not studying. More than one-quarter (25,3%) of premature school leavers in this age group blamed ‘a lack of money’ for not studying. The comparable figure is as high as 44,9% in KwaZulu-Natal. The percentage of learners who reported that they paid no tuition fees increased from 0,4% in 2002 to 62,4% in 2013. Provinces with the highest proportion of non-payers were Limpopo (88,8%) and Eastern Cape (73,5%). Learners were least likely to benefit from the ‘No fee’ system in Gauteng (31,7%) and Western Cape (27,0%).

The GHS also reveals that almost seven-tenths (69,9%) of households went to public clinics and hospitals first when household members fell ill or got injured. By comparison, a quarter (24,2%) of households indicated that they would go to private doctors. A further 4,7% preferred private clinics or hospitals. Most households (92,1%) used the nearest facility of its kind. The study found that 82,5% of households that attended public health-care facilities were either very satisfied or satisfied with the service they received compared to 98% of households that attended private health-care facilities. A slightly larger percentage of households that attended public facilities (5,7%) as opposed to private facilities (0,7%) were very dissatisfied with the service they received.

Although 89,9% of South African households had access to piped water in 2013, only 77,5% of Limpopo households enjoyed such access. This situation does, however, represent a substantial improvement over 2002 when only 73,9% of households in this province had access to piped water.

Nationally, 63,2% of households rated the quality of water-related services they received as ‘good’. Satisfaction has, however, been eroding steadily since 2005 when 76,4% of users rated the services as good. Residents of Free State, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape have consistently been least satisfied with the quality of water. In 2013, 18,1% of households in Free State felt that their water smelled bad compared to 12% of Mpumalanga households. Only 1,7% of Western Cape households expressed such a complaint. Free State households rated their water as unsafe to drink (17,3%), not clear (20,1%) and not tasting well (19,7%).

The percentage of households with no toilets or bucket toilets decreased from 12,3% in 2002 to 5,3% in 2013. Households in Eastern Cape (10%) Free State (7,7%) and Northern Cape (7,4%) were most likely to lack access to toilet facilities or to still use bucket toilets. The percentage of households that have access to improved sanitation facilities, however, improved to 77,9%, up from 62,3% in 2002.

More than one-quarter of households that shared toilet facilities complained about the poor hygiene (25,6%) and poor lighting (25,1%) at these facilities. A further 22% felt that their physical safety were threatened when they had to use the facilities, while 13,1% of households felt that the toilets were not adequately enclosed.

The percentage of households for which refuse were removed at least once per week increased from 56,7% in 2002 to 63,5% in 2013. Concurrently, the percentage of households that had to rely on own refuse dumps  or communal refuse dumps respectively declined from 31,8% to 29,2% and 3,1% to 1,6%. Large variations, however, remain between rural and urban areas. While 89,2% of households in metropolitan areas, and 84,3% of households in urban areas could rely on weekly kerbside removal, this was the case for only 6,9% of rural households. By comparison, 86,5% of rural households used their own refuse compared to 9% of urban and 4,2% of metro households.

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Issued by:

Ms Kefiloe Masiteng

Deputy Director General: Population & Social Statistics

Tel: (012) 310 4663

Email: kefiloem@statssa.gov.za

Media Enquiries:

Ms Lesedi Dibakwane

Tel: (012) 310 8578

Cell: 082 805 7088

Email: lesedid@statssa.gov.za

Dr. Isabelle Schmidt

Executive Manager: Social Statistics

Tel: (012) 337 6379

Cell: 082 884 4281

Email:isabelsc@statssa.gov.za