You might be surprised to learn that the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is not a national government department. It is in fact an extra-budgetary account (EBA), together with other entities such as the Public Protector and the Gautrain Management Agency. Read further to find out how the financial pie is divided amongst this diverse   read more »

South Africa’s 232 extra-budgetary accounts (EBAs) paid out less money in the form of social benefits in the 2014/15 fiscal year. Social benefits are transfers in cash or in-kind to the public that diminishes exposure to social risks such as unemployment, sickness due to disabilities and injury.   Social benefits paid by EBAs amounted to   read more »

How well have South African businesses performed? This can be a complicated question that can be tackled with a range of indicators. From the wealth of financial data available from the recently published Quarterly Financial Statistics (QFS), Stats SA takes a look at one such indicator: the profit margin ratio.   A limitation of financial   read more »

You might celebrate World Chocolate Day today (7 July) by sitting back and feasting on your favourite slab of sugary goodness. At Stats SA, we love our chocolate. But we also love data and all things statistical. So, to honour today, we’ve teased out a few facts about the price of chocolate that you, as   read more »

  Free State Community Survey 2016 results The total population recorded for Free State in 2016 was 2,8 million, an increase from the population of 2,7 million in 2011, making it the second smallest province in the country in terms of population size, after the Northern Cape.  58,3% of the population in the province are   read more »

  Limpopo Community Survey 2016 results Limpopo’s population by 400 000, from 5,4 million people in 2011 to 5,8 million in 2016, making it the fifth largest province in the country in terms of population size. It trails behind Gauteng (13,4 million), KwaZulu-Natal (11,1 million), Eastern Cape (7 million), and Western Cape (6,3 million).  The   read more »

Stats SA distinguishes between various types of construction activities, including free-standing houses, townhouses, flats, offices and shopping space. The following infographic shows which of these are the most costly to build, according to Stats SA’s latest Selected building statistics of the private sector as reported by local government institutions. Nationally, it would cost you an   read more »

Media Invite 1 July 2016 Statistician-General to release formal sector employment statistics for the first quarter of 2016   The Statistician-General of South Africa, Dr Pali Lehohla, will release the Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) for the first quarter of 2016. The QES measures changes in employment across all industries in the formal sector of the   read more »

Municipalities spend more money on their employees than on any one of the services provided to their clients/customers. Data from Stats SA’s latest Financial census of municipalities provides interesting insight into the patterns of salary costs across municipalities, as well as over time. Salary patterns across space Employee-related costs took up the largest chunk of   read more »

A sharp contraction in mining tipped economic growth into negative territory in the first quarter of 2016. South Africa’s economy shrank by 1,2% quarter-on-quarter (seasonally adjusted and annualised), according to the latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures published by Stats SA. Year-on-year growth for the same quarter was -0,2%. The supply side of the economy:   read more »