- Fewer than four in 10 South Africans (38%) describe their personal living conditions as “fairly good” or “very good,” while more than half (52%) see their living conditions as bad, up from 44% compared to 2021 (Figure 1).
- Two-thirds (67%) of citizens say they or a household member went without a cash income at least once during the past year, including one-quarter (26%) who say this happened “many times” or “always” (Figure 2). o Fully six in 10 (60%) report going without enough clean water, while more than half experienced shortages of cooking fuel (54%) and food (52%) at least once. Half (49%) went without medicines or medical treatment at least once.
- Fully one-third (33%) of citizens say they had to turn to friends or neighbours to make ends meet at least “once or twice” during the previous year, while 13% say they sought assistance from a religious, community, or charitable organisation. Half (49%) of South Africans say they requested help from family (Figure 3).
- Unemployment is the foremost problem that citizens want the government to address, cited by 55% of respondents as one of their three priorities for government action (Figure 4). o Other citizen priorities include crime and security (35%), water supply (31%), infrastructure/roads (28%), corruption (21%), electricity (18%), housing (16%), health (15%), education (13%), increasing cost of living (6%), and poverty (6%).
- More than eight in 10 South Africans (83%) say the country is going in the wrong direction, an increase of 19 percentage points over the past decade (Figure 5).
More than half of South Africans see their living conditions as bad and report turning to family, friends or neighbours, and religious or community organisations during the previous year to make ends meet, a new Afrobarometer survey reveals.
Released ahead of International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October), the study shows that majorities also went without a cash income, enough clean water, and enough food at least once during the previous year.
The leading issue in the public eye is unemployment, while the increasing cost of living and poverty rank 10th and 11th, respectively, among citizens’ priorities for government action.
South Africans overwhelmingly think that the country is going in the wrong direction.
Contact
Organisation
Language
Keywords
Countries
Regions