More than half of South Africa’s children continue to live under multiple layers of deprivation despite some improvement over the past eight years, according to a new report released by Statistics South Africa.
The report shows that multidimensional poverty among children aged 0 to 17 declined from 60.8% in 2015 to 57.3% in 2023.
While this reflects a modest improvement, officials warned that the progress remains far too limited, with millions of children still lacking access to essential services and basic living conditions.
The study, conducted in partnership with UNICEF South Africa and the Social Policy Research Institute, examines child poverty beyond income alone.
Instead of focusing only on household earnings, it measures deprivation across seven dimensions: nutrition, health, education, protection, water and sanitation, housing, and access to information.
Primary school children remain most affected
Among all age groups, children between the ages of 5 and 12 remained the most deprived.
Their poverty rate declined only slightly from 62.5% in 2015 to 59.3% in 2023.
Children aged 0 to 4 saw the biggest improvement, dropping from 58.1% to 51.5%, while teenagers aged 13 to 17 showed only marginal gains.
The report also found stark geographic inequality.
Children living in rural and non-metropolitan municipalities were more than four times more likely to experience simultaneous deprivation than those living in urban areas.
Provincial disparities remain severe, with Limpopo recording the highest rate at 73.7%, followed by Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
By contrast, Gauteng and Western Cape recorded the lowest levels.
Covid-19 impact and food insecurity
The report highlights that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to be reflected in the data.
Access to nutrition, healthcare and child protection services worsened during lockdown periods, with the effects still visible in 2023 figures.
Food insecurity among children aged 0 to 4 rose sharply from 41.5% to 49.2%.
Protection-related deprivation also increased significantly.
Stats SA noted that improvements in household income did not necessarily translate into better living conditions.
In fact, the proportion of children who were multidimensionally poor but not classified as income poor increased over the period.
This suggests that service delivery, education quality, housing and safety remain key structural challenges.
Source: Statistics South Africa
