Inflation edges up to 4,6%
South Africa’s annual inflation rate nudged up to 4,6% in February from January’s 4,5%, inching past the 4,5% midpoint of the South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy target range. The last time the inflation rate was above the midpoint was in November 2018 when the rate was 5,2%. The monthly shift in consumer prices – read more »
Maternal health care in SA shows signs of improvement
During the 7-year period before the South Africa Demographic Health Survey (SADHS) 2016, the pregnancy related mortality ratio was 536 pregnancy-related deaths per 100 000 live births. For every 1 000 live births, about five women died during pregnancy or within 2 months after childbirth (SADHS, 2016). While South Africa has made significant progress with regard to read more »
Economy slips into recession
The South African economy contracted by 1,4% in the fourth quarter of 2019, following a contraction of 0,8% (revised) in the third quarter.1 Transport and trade were the main drags on overall activity, according to the latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures. Seven of the ten industries contracted in the fourth quarter. Finance, mining and read more »
Fertility planning in South Africa.
For most women, the news that they are expecting a baby is a happy event filled with excitement in anticipation of the arrival of their bundle of joy. However, not all births are “wanted”. A recent report by Statistics South Africa entitled Unwanted Fertility in South Africa reveals that about 20% of all births in read more »
SA’s Millennials have made substantial strides in education outcomes
It is often said that each generation should be better off than their parents. In South Africa, generational changes have largely been impacted by important political changes that affected the choices available to Generation X’ers and Millennials in terms of their educational and labour market participations. According to a recent report, Education and Labour Market read more »
Making rands and sense of price data
How much do South Africans pay for groceries? Stats SA has released a list with prices of 191 popular retail items with data going back to 2017. The list holds some surprises. Pulled from that list, each item in the graphic below has its own unique story. The national average price of a loaf of read more »
Inflation quickens for a second month in a row
South Africa’s annual inflation rate was 4,5% in January, higher than that recorded in December (4,0%) and November (3,6%). This places inflation right on the 4,5% midpoint of the South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy target range. The main contributors to the 4,5% rate were food and non-alcoholic beverages; housing and utilities; transport; and miscellaneous read more »
Statement from the South African Statistics Council on Stats SA funding
February 2020 Professor David Everatt, Chairperson, on behalf of the South African Statistics Council David.everatt@wits.ac.za, 0834559466 Stats SA is a globally recognised centre of excellence for producing official statistics. Stats SA is the only source of official statistics in South Africa. It has both kept in touch with or led best practice, notably in developing read more »
Mbalo Brief – February 2020
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is conducting the National Household Travel Survey 2020 (NHTS 2020) in conjunction with the National Department of Transport (NDoT) from January 2020 until March 2020. The aim of the NHTS 2020 is to understand the transport needs and transport behaviour of households and individuals, assess attitudes towards transport services and read more »
Mining loses shine for the second year in a row
Exactly a week after delegates closed the 26th Investing in African Mining Indaba, Stats SA released data on the performance of the mining industry in 2019. The level of production was 1,3% lower in 2019 than 2018, which in turn was 2,1% lower than 2017. Despite a positive showing from both copper and manganese, a read more »