Statistics SA on General Household Survey 2015
2 Jun 2016
More people continued to rely on state coffers as the percentage of individuals that benefited from social grants increased from 12,7% in 2003 to 30,1% in 2015. The percentage of households that received at least one grant increased from 29,9% to 45,5% in 2015, over the same period. This is according to the results of the latest General Household Survey (GHS) released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), today (see here – PDF).
The survey further indicates that, nationally, 33,2% of individuals aged 5 years and older attended an educational institution. Approximately 88% of South Africans above the age of five years who attended educational institutions were in either primary or high school, while 4,4% attended tertiary institutions. The percentage of learners who reported that they were exempted from paying tuition fees increased from 0,4% in 2002 to 64,6% in 2015. Provinces with the highest proportion of non-payers were Limpopo (92,5%) and Eastern Cape (79,1%). Learners were least likely to benefit from the ‘no fee’ system in Western Cape (43%) and Gauteng (41,6%).
The GHS also reveals that seven in every ten (70,5%) households went to public clinics and hospitals as their first point of access when household members fell ill or got injured. By comparison, a quarter (25,3%) of households indicated that they went to private doctors, private clinics or hospitals. Most households (92,8%) went to the nearest health facility. The study found that 81,1% of households that attended public healthcare facilities were either very satisfied or satisfied with the service they received compared to 97,7% of households that attended private healthcare facilities.
Although 89,4% of South African households had access to piped water in 2015, only 74,9% of Eastern Cape households enjoyed such access. This situation does, however, represent a substantial improvement from that of 2002 when only 56,3% of households in this province had access to piped water.