STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY IN THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT ON 8 MAY 1995
Issued by: Ministry in the Office of the President
Following the release of the October Household Survey (OHS) on 30 March 1995, the results of the OHS for the nine provinces were released today by the Central Statistical Service (CSS).
The OHS differs from previous surveys in that it is representative, including the former TBVC states; has a development orientation, and begins to cover RDP issues such as security and access to services alongside unemployment.
Out of a total population of 40,7 million people in South Africa, KwaZulu/Natal has the largest population, namely 8,6 million people (21,1%). Gauteng with a population of 6,9 million people has the highest population density (369,3 people /sq.-km).
ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE POPULATION
There are at present 14,4 million economically active people in South Africa. Of this 8,2 million (56,9%) work in the formal sector of the economy, whilst 1,5 million (10,4%) are in the informal sector, and a further 4,7 million (32,6%) are unemployed.
The highest unemployment rate in the provinces occurred in the Northern Transvaal (47%) and the lowest unemployment rate in the Western Cape (17,3%).
Unemployment rates in rural areas are higher than in urban areas in most provinces, with the Eastern Cape having the highest rural unemployment rate (56,3%) and the Northern Cape having the highest urban unemployment rate (38,2%). Relative to the other provinces the Western Cape shows a very low unemployment rate in both urban areas (4,6%) and rural areas (19,7%).
A high concentration of unemployment occurs in the age group 20 - 24 for all population groups and also in the age group 25 - 29 for Africans. This shows that the unemployment problem is most acute among the youth.
Amongst all population groups more females than males are unemployed. The highest unemployment rate for women in urban areas is in the Northern Cape, where 47% of economically active women are unemployed. The highest rate in rural areas is the Eastern Cape with 64,1%.
ACCESS TO SERVICES
The unavailability of domestic water in the dwelling or on site is mainly experienced in rural areas. The most severe case are the Eastern Cape, where 81,1% of the rural population have no tap water in their dwellings or on site, and the Free State, where 15,4% of the urban population have no tap water in their dwellings or on site.
A lack of electricity for cooking, lighting and heating purposes is most prominent in the Eastern Cape, where 92,9% of the occupants of rural dwellings have no such facilities. In urban areas, 43,2% of the inhabitants of the Free State have no electrical facilities.
The percentage of people in provincial urban and rural areas who have no access to any sanitation facilities shows that a significant lack of facilities exists in most rural areas, the worst being the Eastern Cape (37,7%).
There is a significant lack of accessibility to a telephone in the dwelling both urban and rural areas, although it is more prominent in rural areas. The results of the OHS indicate that 11,6% of Africans, 42,8% of Coloureds, 72,3% of Asians and 87,4% of Whites have a telephone in their dwelling. In the North-West Province, 81,3% of the population in rural areas have no access to any telephones.
The October Household Survey indicates the extent of socio-economic challenges facing us. It also gives geographical comparisons for specific issues. It does however not give a one figure comparison of human development for the nine provinces. Nor does it compare South Africa's development with that of the rest of the world.
Accordingly the first official results of the South African Human Development Index (HDI) were also released today by the Central Statistical Service.
The HDI provides an alternative method to measure the relative socio-economic development of countries, and provinces within countries. The HDI is best seen as a measure of the ability to live a long and healthy life, to communicate, to participate in the life of the community and to have sufficient means to be able to afford a decent living, with the basic indicators being life expectancy, adult literacy, the average years of schooling and per capita income.
South Africa ranks 86th out of 173 countries in terms of human development (HDI - 0,0677). This places South Africa in the medium category, where countries with an HDI below 0,5 are considered to have a low level of human development and those of 0,8 and above as a high level of human development. The United Nations Development Programme estimated the Human Development Index for South Africa in 1992 to be 0,650, therefore showing a close correlation between their findings and ours.
The provinces Western Cape (0,826) and Gauteng (0818) rank in the high scale. The provinces Northern Cape (0,698), Easter Transvaal (0,694), Free State (0657), KwaZulu/Natal (0,602), North-West (0,543) and Eastern Cape (0,507) rank in the medium HDI scale whilst Northern Transvaal (0,470) ranks in the low scale of human development.
The Human Development indexes for the population groups in South Africa rank Whites first, followed by Asians, Coloureds and Africans respectively. If Whites were seen separately, they would have ranked 19th in the world (just after New Zealand) whilst Africans would have ranked 119th (just after the Maldives).
The female HDI indicators show that females only gain in terms of life expectancy, but that they are behind in terms of level of education and adjusted real income per capita.
As expected, the results indicate that women, residents of non-urban areas, Coloureds and Africans are members of social group most in need of investment in human development. Similarly, the residents of the Eastern Cape and Northern Transvaal live in provinces most in need of investment in human development.
For more information contact either Fred Oberholzer at 021 - 455541 or the Central Statistical Service, Communication Division, at 012 - 310 8095 / 310 8390 / 310 8040 / 310 8351.