Understanding The Poverty Line
Not everyone will understand what the poverty line is or how it affects daily living. But the reality is that everyday, everywhere, South Africans are just managing to survive, often below or just above the poverty line. There could be people working with you in your organisation, who are simply managing to get by.
As we approach Human Rights Day, understanding life just above the poverty line is important for all South Africans, as we can often become so wrapped up in our own personal lives that we don’t offer much thought to anyone else who may be worse off than ourselves.
“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.” Eckhart Tolle.
What Is The Poverty Line?
It is the minimum deemed income required in order to survive in our country. It is different in every country, and in South Africa, we have three poverty lines. Each poverty line as stipulated in South Africa is representative of different levels of poverty, as published by Statistics South Africa in 2017, based on data that was collected between 2006 and 2015.
Having three levels of poverty helps the government measure the different degrees of poverty.
The three different levels of poverty are as follows:
- Food poverty line
- Lower-bound poverty line
- Upper-bound poverty line
The Food Poverty Line
The food poverty line is a good place to start because it is very basic in its approach. The worldwide standard for the minimum number of calories that need to be consumed daily in order to meet the minimum daily energy requirements is 2,100 calories. This is the food poverty line. If a household can just afford to cover the costs of the basic foods that meet this requirement, then they are living on the poverty line.
The value of this poverty line is R531, as adjusted in 2017.
The truth is that many South Africans are just living within this poverty line, so there is no room for anything else except basic survival. Basic survival costs R531 per person per month.
The Lower-Bound Poverty Line
The next poverty line is the lower-bound poverty line, which is slightly above the food poverty line and allows for the basic provision of clothing or other non-food items.
The lower-bound poverty line is R758 per month.
The Upper-Bound Poverty Line
The last and higher poverty line is the upper-bound poverty line, and it provides for the same as the lower-bound poverty line, but with slightly more volume.
The upper-bound poverty line is R1,138 per month.
The lower-bound poverty line is the preferred measure of poverty in our country, even though many still live well below it. To put it into perspective for you:
- In 2015, 13.8 million South Africans were living below the food poverty line, meaning 13.8 million South Africans earned or lived off less than the 2015 food poverty amount, which was R441.
- In 2015, 25.2% of our population lived on less than R441 per month.
- One quarter of our fellow South Africans lived off just enough to survive.
Today, not much has changed, although we can always hope for better government implementations that offer jobs and support for those living on the very basics. There are still millions of South Africans living on or below the food poverty line. Food for thought.
Resources:
Information: http://www.statssa.gov.za/, https://africacheck.org/