This year marks the 45th anniversary of the 16 June 1976 student uprising in Soweto. In 1994, the new democratic government declared 16 June as National Youth Day and June as the Youth Month. With the focus on the youth under the theme: “The Year of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke: Growing youth employment for an inclusive   read more »

Many nations measure population and economic growth. Until recently, few have paid attention to the natural environment. This week, South Africa reached another milestone in strengthening its production of environmental statistics. As part of South Africa’s drive to account for its natural resources, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), in collaboration with the South African National   read more »

In an interview with Yahoo! News, Spanish-American chef and activist José Andrés said it best: “Food is health. Food is national security. Food is job creation. Food is economic growth.” 1 Agriculture plays a crucial role in food security, supplying the basic products that keep millions of people fed every day. In South Africa, the industry   read more »

According to the Tourism, 2020 report released by Statistics South Africa, foreign arrivals dropped by 71% from just over 15, 8million in 2019 to less than 5 million in 2020. It is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the tourism industry quite hard around the world and in South Africa, mainly due to the lockdown   read more »

Education inflation recorded its lowest annual rate in three decades, according to data from Stats SA’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) release. Stats SA surveys educational institutions and crèches once a year in March. Education fees increased by 4,1% in 2021. Last year’s rise was 6,4%. Historical data shows that this is the lowest increase   read more »

Like all other commodities, South Africa’s production of platinum group metals (PGMs) was volatile in 2020 as miners tried to navigate the uncertainty and economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is a snapshot of how PGM production, prices and sales fared during the year. Supplies were adversely affected by COVID-19 related mine disruptions   read more »

There are two sides to every coin. Service delivery in South Africa is often measured from the demand side, via household surveys and the Population Census. What you might not know about is that data also exist for the supply side, collected from those who provide services. Every year Stats SA asks municipalities to provide   read more »

Economic growth is often quite lumpy. A national measure of gross domestic product (GDP) is useful to gauge how a country is doing as a whole. Still, it misses the fact that economic activity varies across towns, cities and regions. Stats SA’s most recent quarterly GDP release provides national data for the entire year of   read more »

Headline inflation slowed to 2,9% in February from 3,2% in January, the lowest reading since June last year when the rate was 2,2%. This is the third time in the past 12 months that the annual rate has slipped below the bottom end of the South African Reserve Bank’s inflation target range. Inflation was below   read more »

If you work with gross domestic product (GDP) data or have an interest in economic statistics, the following note might be important to you. Stats SA announced in its most recent GDP statistical release1 that it will no longer use the annualised rate as the headline rate of change. There are several measures of economic   read more »