Visualising South Africa’s society through the 2022 Census
Census data reveals the trends and challenges of housing, migration and education in South Africa
With the last South African Census held in 2011, it has been over a decade since the periodic governmental count of the population was done, covering social and economic factors. The 2022 census recorded a total population of 62,027,503 constituting 48.5% male and 51.5% female. It was the first digital population count, allowing respondents to choose whether to complete the census questionnaire with or without the assistance of a census field worker. The digital approach also included a post-enumeration survey (PES) that utilised geospatial information and a multi-modal approach for data collection, including computer-assisted personal interviews, computer-assisted web interviews, and computer-assisted telephone interviews.
We ‘ve handpicked a few data snippets from the census offering a snapshot of the evolving social landscape of South Africa.
Households
The number of households in the country is 17,828,778. Of these, the national average household size is 3.5 — a notable downward trend in household size over the period of 1996–2022. In light of this, there is a reduction in young children (0–14 years) and increase in the elderly (65+ years). On average, 49.6% of the households are female-headed.
Housing
In her address at the African Union for Housing Finance 39th Annual Conference, South Africa’s deputy minister of human settlements, Pam Tshwete, said she was mindful of the acute housing shortage in the country, with 2.3 million people registered in the department’s housing needs register to date. At the conference, titled Affordable Housing on the Front lines: Cases from the Continent, she said the affordable housing market outlook is facing a massive challenge. Data showed that in the first quarter of 2023/2024, 1.3 million applications for mortgage finance were received by financial institutions and 720,000 (54.8%) were declined.
The Census records distribution of government-subsidised dwelling or RDPs (reconstruction and development programmes). The highest is recorded in Northern Cape, with two-fifths (40%) of households. Households in Limpopo recorded the lowest proportion of government subsidised dwellings/RDP housing (18.3%), well below the national average of 29.9%.
Basic services
However, beneficiaries of ‘RDP houses’ are still required to pay for all municipal rates, just like everyone else, which may include water and electricity or other service surcharges. The Census states that households’ access to clean water, electricity, sanitation and refuse removal provides key information needed to measure and plan access to and progress regarding basic service delivery. Access to these services also affects households’ health, the environment and level of poverty in the country.
In the same address, Tshwete stated that subsidised housing units are now designed to be energy efficient by incorporating the installation of solar panels in these units, a part of the solution given the current energy challenges in South Africa.
94% of the people were recorded to be using electricity from the mains for lighting. All these were affected by the energy crisis, with blackouts in big urban areas as well as rural areas. It has been reported that South Africa suffered electricity outages, leaving many without power for up to 10 hours a day, and the nation faced 200 days of electricity outages in 2022 alone.
Migration
Southern Africa has a long history of intra-regional migration. In South Africa, the majority of migrants recorded are from surrounding countries. Largely due to this, there has been a slow but steady increase in xenophobia, which has been evidenced by sporadic and sometimes lethal harassment of African and Asian foreign nationals. From 2011 to 2022, the number of migrants has increased from 1,765,664 to 2,231,539. The census also recorded interprovincial migration, showing that since the last census, Western Cape, Northern Cape, North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces had more people migrating into these provinces than migrating out (positive net-migration). For lifetime migration, Gauteng recorded the largest lifetime in-migration, followed by the Western Cape at 5,188,286 and 2,043,626 respectively.
Education
The population census has historically included questions for measuring educational characteristics of the population to inform planning and policy formulation. Nelson Mandela said that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. It is great to note therefore, that educational institution attendance in 2022 was at 73,4%. The Census report also notes that in 2022, functional literacy of the population aged 20 years and older rose to 85%, up from a low base of 64.3% in 1996. The largest expansion in functional literacy occurred between 2001 and 2011, when it increased from 66% to 78.8%. In that time period it is recorded that more than 150 million workbooks were developed and distributed to Grade R — 9 learners; the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU) and the Planning, Delivery and Oversight Unit (PDOU) were established in the Department of Basic Education to identify areas of weaknesses; and the South African Sign Language Curriculum were developed to bring about clarity and inclusivity.
However, in the latest census, the provinces of Western Cape, Mpumulanga and Limpopo record an increase in the percentage of people not attending education institutions.
Our selection above is to highlight some of the numbers coming out of the census in relation to some of the pertinent issues for the population. Census data is meant to help with the implementation of services using evidence-based data.
In President Cyril Ramaphosa’s remarks on the Census 2022 results, he said: “South Africans should have the utmost confidence in the numbers presented in the census” because Stat SA’s independence speaks of its credibility. “Policy making that is not informed by accurate data can result in inefficiency in the allocation of resources, underestimation with regard to the needs of our citizens, poorly planned programmes and poor financial allocation and management.”
To engage more with this data or other indicators, find the census data here. Feel free to reuse the visualisations in this post.
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