South Africa (SA) is lifting millions of people out of poverty, but at a pace so slow that today’s youngest citizens are on track to become the country’s next generation of working poor.

This warning emerges from a new Statistics SA (StatsSA) report released this Thursday, which shows that although poverty levels have declined over the past 17 years, structural barriers continue to trap millions in long-term hardship.

The latest Poverty Trends in SA report finds that the proportion of people living below the lower-bound poverty line has fallen from 57.5% in 2006 to 37.9% in 2023. Stats SA’s Director for Money-Metric Poverty and Inequality Statistics, Werner Ruch, said the numbers reflect progress, but at a rate far too slow to match population growth or ease the pressure on struggling households. In 2006, around 27.3 million South Africans were living in poverty; by 2023 that number had dropped to 23.2 million, a reduction of nearly 4 million people, but still leaving more than 23 million below the line.

Ruch said deeper indicators show small but meaningful shifts. Food poverty has declined by 2.2 million people since 2006, leaving around 10.8 million still food-poor. Poverty gaps have also narrowed since 2015, suggesting that those who remain poor are at least closer to the poverty line than they were nearly a decade ago.

Yet women continue to bear the heaviest burden. Gender disparities have barely shifted in almost 20 years, with women consistently more likely to fall below the poverty line. In 2023, they accounted for 53.6% of all people living in poverty.

Economists say the most alarming trend is the concentration of poverty among young people. KPMG lead economist, Frank Blackmore, said the country’s weak economic performance is failing to keep up with its fast-growing youth population, creating a long-term risk of entrenched generational poverty. He noted that the population has been expanding at roughly 1.5%, while economic growth has remained below 1% for more than a decade, leaving young South Africans with limited pathways into stable employment.

The report concludes that despite long-term improvements, deep inequality, unemployment and gendered vulnerabilities continue to hinder progress. Without faster economic growth and targeted interventions for women and young people, analysts warn that poverty will remain deeply rooted for years to come.

–ChannelAfrica–