Statistics South Africa's 2017 General Household Survey was released in Pretoria on Thursday and gives some interesting insights into the lives of ordinary citizens. The survey's target population was all private households in all nine provinces of South Africa and residents living in workers’ hostels.
Here are some of the more interesting findings:
English is only the sixth-most common language spoken inside the home
Just under a quarter (24,7%) of households in South Africa spoke isiZulu at home, while 15,6% of households spoke isiXhosa, and 12,1% of households spoke Afrikaans. English was spoken by only 8,4% of individuals at home, making it the sixth-most common language spoken inside the home. English is, however, the second most commonly spoken language outside the household (17,6%) after isiZulu (24,7%), with isiXhosa being the third-most common (13,0%).
The biggest percentage of Afrikaans speakers are not white
According to the survey, more than three-quarters (76,3%) of coloured people spoke Afrikaans at home, and 21,8% spoke English, while 57,9% of whites spoke Afrikaans and 39,2% English.
Graphic: StatsSA
State healthcare facilities are still the first option for most households
Of the households who participated in the survey, 71,2% said that they would first go to public clinics, hospitals or other public institutions compared to 27,4% of households that said that they would first consult a private doctor, private clinic or hospital. Only 0,7% of responding households said that they would first go to a traditional healer.
Nearly half of SA's children have never had a parent read to them
Nearly half (47,6%) of the children in the country never read a book or drew (44,7%) with a parent or guardian.
Many parents are actively involved in their child's early development
Parents often spend time naming different things (46,2%), counting (39,2%) or talking about different
things (38,3%) with children under the age of four.
Graphic: StatsSA
South Africans still prefer to drive themselves to work
The most commonly used mode of transport to travel to work was a private car (34,1%), followed by taxis (22,9%) and walking (19,9%). The study also found that 11,9% of the working population worked from home and therefore had no need for transport.
Most learners still walk to school
The latest figures showed that just under two-thirds (64,8%) of South African learners walked to school, while 9,5% travelled by private car, and another 6,6% used taxis.
Graphic: StatsSA
Most households favour cellphones over a landline
Only 0,1% of South African households used only landlines. By comparison, 88,2% of South African households exclusively use cellular
phones. The exclusive use of cellular phones was most common in Mpumalanga (95,6%), Limpopo (94,8%), North West (91,3%) and Free State (90,2%).
One out of ten households have access to the internet at home
Roughly 61,8% of South African households had at least one member who had access to, or used, the Internet either at home, work, place of study or Internet cafés. Access to the Internet using all available means was highest in Gauteng (74,0%), Western Cape (70,8%) and Mpumalanga (63,3%), and lowest in Limpopo (43,6%) and Eastern Cape (51,8%).
Graphic: StatsSA
Graphic: StatsSA
Fewer South Africans are going hungry
The percentage of persons that had limited access to food decreased from 23,6% in 2010 to 21,3% in 2017. Simultaneously, the percentage of households with more limited access to food declined from 29,1% in 2010 to 24,7% in 2017.