Households report increased access to basic services as satisfaction with some services decline.
27 May 2015
The percentage of households in South Africa without access to an improved source of sanitation has decreased consistently over the past decade. The latest General Household Survey (GHS) found that the percentage of households with access to improved sanitation, that is flush toilets or pit toilets with ventilation pipes, has increased consistently from 62,3% in 2002 to 79,5% in 2014.
The percentage of households without access to any sanitation facilities, or who were still using a bucket, at the same time declined from 12,3% in 2002 to 4,9% in 2014. The study found that households that shared sanitation facilities considered poor lighting (25,9%) and poor hygiene (23,7%) as the main problems followed by physical safety (19,5%).
The GHS has been conducted on an annual basis since 2002, and it measures changes in the living conditions of South African households, determining household access to various services and amenities, such as basic services, food, health-care and medical aid. The 2014 release shows that 13,2 million (85,9%) households had access to piped water in 2014 compared to 9,4 million (79,9%) in 2005.
Households, however, seem to grow less satisfied with the service as only 61,4% of households in 2014 indicated that they experienced ‘good’ quality service, compared to 76,4% of households in 2005. The percentage of households that indicated that they would pay for the water they received declined from 61,9% in 2005 to 43,7% in 2014.