South Africa’s population increased from 45,6-million in July 2002 to 48,7-million in July 2008, according to Statistics South Africa’s General Household Survey.
Released on Tuesday, the survey — specifically designed to measure various aspects of the living circumstances of South African households — showed that the percentage of individuals attending an educational institution increased slightly from 33,1% to 34,4% between 2002 and 2008.
The percentage of children aged nought to four years who were attending an educational institution increased from 7,4% in 2002 to 16,9% in 2008.
The Pretoria-based agency found that the percentage of children aged five to nine years who were attending an educational institution increased from 79,9% in 2002 to 88,6% in 2008.
The percentage of five year olds attending educational institutions increased from 40,4% in 2002 to 63,3% in 2008, while the percentage of learners in the six-years age group increased from 70,9% to 87,1%, the agency said.
The percentage of individuals with no education (aged 20 and above) decreased from 10,3% (2002) to 8,8% (2008).
According to the survey, the percentage of individuals who completed Grade 12 (Matric/NSC) increased from 22,8% in 2002 to 24,6% in 2008.
Among persons aged seven to 24 years that were not attending an educational institution, lack of money for fees remained the most common reason for not attending.
Turning to health, Statistics SA said that during the month preceding the survey, 13,7% of the population were ill or injured.
”This is the highest reported since 2002 when only 11,3% were ill or injured.”
In the general population, 77,7% of those who were ill or injured consulted a health worker.
According to Statistics SA, the percentage of households countrywide with high satisfaction levels increased from 87,5% in 2002 to 89,1% in 2008.
More individuals who used public sector health care facilities were satisfied with the service they received in 2008 (91,2%) than in 2002 (81,1%).
Medical Aid coverage was lowest amongst blacks, with only 8,4% of individuals covered in 2008, and highest amongst the white population, with 68,5% coverage.
Turning to household assets, Statistics SA said there had been a marginal increase in the percentage of households that found themselves in informal dwellings (from 13,1% in 2002 to 13,4% in 2008).
”When households compared their current dwelling type (2008) with their own dwelling type of five years ago (2004), there has been some improvement,” Statistics SA said.
It added that in all provinces, considerably more households no longer found themselves in informal or traditional structures as their main dwelling.
”A continued growth in ownership of those occupying formal separate dwelling is observed — ownership increased from 62,6% in 2002 to 70,1% in 2008.”
Cellphone ownership more than doubled between 2002 and 2008 (from 37,6% to 79,1%, Statistics SA said while television ownership increased from 59,3% in 2002 to 72,4% in 2008. — Sapa