It has only been five months into 2014, yet a lot has already happened. Just recently, on 7 May 2014, many South Africans went out in their numbers to vote in the fifth general election since the dawn of democracy. The African Union (AU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer missions congratulated South Africa   read more »

Stats SA today released the Q1:2014 results which show a quarterly decline in employment by 122 000 due to a loss of 110 000 jobs in the informal sector. Formal sector employment was virtually unchanged at 10,8 million compared with the previous quarter, while both Private households and Agriculture shed jobs (14 000 and 5 000 respectively). The   read more »

Hitting the ceiling of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) inflation target range, the CPI comes in at 6% this month, with a 1,3% monthly increase. The monthly increase is the largest since June 2008 (1,4%). The monthly increase has been steadily increasing since a low of 0,1% in November 2013. Food and non-alcoholic beverages   read more »

Media Release                                                                                                                   15 April 2014 Tourists visiting South Africa reached a record high of nearly one million in December 2013 alone A total of 937 792 tourists visited South Africa during December 2013, making it the highest ever recorded number of tourists in the country in any one month. This was an increase of 7,6%   read more »

On 27 April 1994, over 19 million South Africans of all races voted in the country’s first free and fair non-racial general elections. This milestone in the struggle for equality and human rights ended over three hundred years of racial segregation, colonialism and apartheid. Since 1995, the 27th of April has been celebrated in commemoration   read more »

Press Statement                                                                                                          3 April 2014 Poverty Trends in South Africa South Africa winning war on poverty Poverty levels in the country have declined as the number of people living below the poverty line dropped since 2006. The Poverty Trends Report released by Statistics South Africa reveals that people   living below the food poverty line   read more »

Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa The Statistician-General Pali Lehohla, will release a report on Labour Market Dynamics in South Africa, on Wednesday April 9. The report draws data from the QLFS datasets of all quarters of the previous year and will review among others, employment patterns and trends; government job creation programmes; unemployment patterns   read more »

Inside this edition: Inside this edition: What is the Master Sample? p2; All about household statistics p3; Victims of crime: Housebreakings and home robberies p4; Monthly economic statistics p6; The dynamics of travel in SA p7; Test your knowledge p8.

Findings from the Poverty Trends in South Africa report released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Thursday showed a strong link between increased level of education and decreased levels of poverty. While the overall level of poverty has declined between 2006 and 2011, there are stark differences when one examines poverty status according to   read more »

Poor households spend on average R8 485 per annum on food, which accounts for roughly 34% of their total household expenditure. This contrasts sharply with non-poor households, who spend R14 020 on average per annum on food. This only constitutes 10% of their total household expenditure. These findings form part of the poverty trends report which Stats   read more »