The number of South Africans reliant on all forms of social grants has increased, with 39.5% of individuals and 50.6% of households depending on them, while nearly one-quarter (23.4%) rely on grants as their main source of income.
This is according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA)’s General Household Survey, released in Cape Town.
The survey also revealed that salaries and wages remained the primary source of income for 54.3% of households, although this varied widely across provinces.
Stats SA Acting Deputy Director-General for Population and Social Statistics, Solly Molayi, told YOU FM Newshour that the survey continues to reflect the country’s socio-economic realities.
“If you take about 20 million households in South Africa, about 50% of them have at least one individual who receives a grant, which could be a child support grant, Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, or old-age grant.
“The report reveals that 40% of the population have access to one or more forms of grants available in South Africa,” said Molayi.
Stats SA said the situation may have been exacerbated by the SRD grant introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide financial assistance to vulnerable unemployed individuals with no alternative income and facing extreme poverty across the country.
“The reason why we have recorded an increase is likely because of the SRD grant.
“We conducted some analysis looking at the period before 2019, prior to the pandemic, and noticed that the number of people between the ages of 18 and 24 increased significantly because they were neither entering the education system nor finding employment, and therefore qualified for the grant.
“This is what we believe contributed to the increased number of households and individuals depending on grants,” he explained.
Molayi described social grants as a “vital safety net, particularly in rural provinces such as North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga”, underscoring their importance for millions of South Africans facing economic hardship.
“This was strongly highlighted by the poverty report we released. When we remove social grants as a source of household income, poverty levels increase significantly, which shows the important role grants play within households.
“The report reveals that a grandmother may receive an old-age grant, a child may receive a child support grant, while a young person in the family receives the SRD grant, and together this becomes the only source of income for the entire family,” Molayi elaborated.
While the survey points to improvements in areas such as education and access to basic services, its findings suggest that poverty and unemployment remain deeply entrenched realities for millions of South Africans.
