A couple of township houses
South Africa’s most vulnerable groups continue to bear the heaviest burden of poverty and social exclusion, according to Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA’s) latest Marginalised Groups Indicator Report for 2024.
The report, compiled by Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke, draws on data from the General Household Survey, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey and the Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey to track progress, or the lack thereof, across five groups: children, youth, women, older persons and persons with disabilities.
“Marginalised groups are defined as a part of the South African population that experience a higher risk of poverty and social exclusion than the general population,” Stats SA noted in the report.
It added that “this sector requires a particular effort to be made at all levels of policy planning and implementation to inform, amongst other things, resource allocation”.
SA children hungry, dependent on grants and often without both parents
South Africa had approximately 21 million children aged 17 and younger in 2024, making up 33.3% of the total population. Nearly half of these children, 45.5%, lived with only their mother, while 18.8% lived with neither parent.
Stats SA found that 7,4% were paternal orphans and 1,5% were double orphans, figures that point to the fragile household structures many children are growing up in.
The economic picture is equally troubling.
Stats SA reported that “68.8% of children were beneficiaries of social grants” and that “about 30.6% of children lived in households without an employed adult”, a figure that climbed as high as 48.3% in the Eastern Cape.
Hunger remained a daily reality for 16.3% of children nationally, rising to 23.3% in the Northern Cape and 22.6% in KwaZulu-Natal, with children in non-metropolitan areas faring worse at 18% compared to 13.3% in metro areas.
On a more encouraging note, 98.6% of children of compulsory school age attended school in 2024.
However, Stats SA noted that the most common reason cited among children aged 7-17 for not attending school was being satisfied with the level of education, while the second most common reason was no money for fees.
ALSO READ: ‘Survival of the fittest’: ‘God’s Work’ brings complexities of the homeless to JFF [VIDEO]
Youth unemployment crisis deepens as nearly half cannot find work
South Africa’s youth aged 15 to 34 account for 33.6% of the population, making the country demographically young.
Yet this youth bulge has not translated into economic opportunity.
Stats SA found that the youth unemployment rate stood at a damaging 45.5% in 2024, with labour force participation at only 50.8%.
The burden fell disproportionately on young women: “A higher percentage of young females (45.6%) were not in employment, education and training (NEET) compared to their male counterparts (37.6%),” Stats SA reported.
Hunger was also a significant concern, with 15.7% of youth living in households that reportedly experienced food insecurity, rising to 26.2% in the Northern Cape.
Safety was another dimension of youth vulnerability.
According to Stats SA, “approximately 17.7% of the youth felt unsafe walking alone in their area during the day in 2024-25,” with Western Cape at 32.3% and Gauteng at 24% recording the highest proportions. At night, the figures were far worse 74.3% in Mpumalanga and 70.4% in Gauteng reported feeling unsafe.
Women head households but face higher unemployment and hunger rates
There were 32.2 million females in South Africa in 2024, with 42.4% of all households headed by women aged 15 and older.
Female-headed households were most prevalent in the Eastern Cape at 48.8% and Mpumalanga at 46.7%.
Yet heading a household did not shield women from hardship, Stats SA found that “female-headed households were more likely to experience hunger, reporting 1.,1% compared to 11.5% of their male counterparts”.
The labour market remained unequal. The national female unemployment rate was 34.4%, rising to 43.7% in the North West and 4.,5% in the Free State.
Women in non-metropolitan areas were hit hardest, facing an unemployment rate of 37.5% against 31% for those in metros.
Stats SA noted that only 15.8% of females had access to medical aid, with coverage lowest in Limpopo at 10%.
Personal safety remained a pressing concern. Stats SA reported that “20.1% of females reportedly felt unsafe walking alone in their area of residence during the day” and that 66.2% felt unsafe at night.
Older persons rely on grants as chronic illness and inequality take hold
South Africa’s older population, those aged 60 and above, numbered 5.5 million in 2024, representing 9% of the total population.
Women made up the majority at 59.8%, while the Eastern Cape recorded the highest share of older persons provincially at 11.1%.
The white population group had the highest proportion of persons aged 60 and above at 27.2%.
Grants dominated as the primary source of income for older persons, with salaries and wages accounting for only 22.9% of household income.
Health challenges were pervasive: “Nationally, chronic diseases affected 60% of the older persons,” while only 21.9% had access to medical aid with white older persons accounting for 70% of that coverage compared to just 6.6% among black Africans.
Stats SA further noted that 11% of older persons lived in households that reported suffering from hunger, and that 6.,8% felt unsafe walking alone in their neighbourhoods at night.
ALSO READ: Lesufi’s Sopa in numbers: Here is how much the Premier is throwing at Gauteng
Disability in SA: Education gaps and a growing burden with age
Some 6% of South Africans reported living with a disability in 2024, based on Census 2022 data.
The Eastern Cape and Free State recorded the highest provincial rates at 8.5% and 8.4% respectively, while Gauteng had the lowest at 4.9%.
Women were disproportionately affected, with a disability prevalence of 7% compared to 4.9% for men.
The report highlighted a clear pattern: “The analysis of age groups revealed that prevalence of disability increases with age.” More than 43.1% of persons aged 75 and older reportedly lived with a disability.
Educational attainment among people with disabilities was low, with the majority of those aged 25 and above reporting only some secondary schooling at 25.3%, and 17.7% having no schooling at all.
Stats SA found that “black Africans with disabilities tend to have a higher proportion of persons with only some primary education or no schooling as the highest level of education”, while white persons with disabilities were more likely to have attained matric or higher.
READ NEXT: These are the monthly amounts needed to rise above the poverty line in SA
About the Author
