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GAME INDUSTRY TRENDS ANALYSIS 2024
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South Africans Spend Majority Of Income On Living Costs, Survey Shows
South Africans spend majority of income on living costs, survey shows
By Glenneis Kriel | 3 February 2025 | 5:00 am
South African households spend roughly R76 out of every R100 on housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, food and non-alcoholic beverages, transportation and insurance, according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) in its latest insights report into household income and expenditure, ‘Income and Expenditure Survey of Households 2022/2023’.
According to a Stats SA survey, South Africans spend the majority of their income on living costs, such as housing, water, electricity, food and fuel. Photo: Pexels | Engin Akyurt
Total annual household consumption expenditure between November 2022 and November 2023 amounted to R3 trillion, with household consumption expenditure amounting to an average of R143 691/household, according to the report.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels were the biggest contributor to expenditure, representing 34,7% of the total, and amounting to an average of R49 816/household during 2022/23, according to the report.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages took second place, representing 16,3% of total expenditure and amounting to an average spend of R23 445/household, while transport came a close third, representing 15,3% of total expenditure at an average of R21 930/household.
Insurance was the fourth largest expense, representing 9,3% of the total expenditure at an average of R13 427/household.
Together, these expenses represented 75,6% of all household consumption expenditure, which meant that for every R100 spent, R76 went towards servicing these costs.
Mean household consumption expenditure amounted to roughly R143 691/household. Male-headed households accounted for just over 60% of all household consumption, with an average spend of R159 315/household, in comparison with an average spend of R123 346/household for female-headed households.
Households headed by black people accounted for 62,2% of expenditure and spent an average of R108 461/household during the survey year on costs. Households headed by white people had the second largest share at 25% of expenditure, while their average spending amounted to R409 530/household.
Gauteng and the Western Cape represented more than half of total household consumption expenditure, with Gauteng accounting for 36% and the Western Cape 18%.
The Western Cape, nevertheless, showed the highest average annual household spending at R229 633/household, followed by Gauteng at R170 628/household.
Households living in urban areas accounted for 81% of total household consumption expenditure, followed by households in traditional settlements, which accounted for 15,3%, and those on farm settlements accounting for 3,2%.
Average expenditure for households in urban areas amounted to R167 582/household, compared to R112 466/household for people living on farms and R84 502/household for those living in traditional settlements.
Education and expenditure
The report also showed that household consumption expenditure was found to increase with the education level of the household head.
Households headed by those without schooling, for instance, had the lowest annual average expenditure of R73 762/household, followed closely by those with primary schooling as their highest education at R74 312/household.
Expenditure of households headed by those with secondary education increased to an average of R114 121/household, while those with tertiary education had an average expenditure of R359 418/household during the survey year.
The survey also showed that the average annual income amounted to R204 359/household, which was lower than the R205 794/household of 2015 and R209 883/household of 2011.
The average household income for households headed by white people was almost five time higher than the lowest average household income of households headed by black people at R143 632/household.
However, the average income per household headed by black people shows a consistent increase compared with previous surveys conducted since 2006, whereas white-headed households’ average income fluctuated and was substantially lower at R676 375/household than the R732 938/household of 2006.
Dr Hester Vermeulen, agricultural economist and consumer analyst at the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy, told Farmer’s Weekly that information on income and expenditure, especially food expenditure, generated through nationally representative household surveys, was of critical importance to the agriculture and food sectors as they provided insights into food spending behaviour, which could be used to guide commercial marketing decisions.
She, however, added that funding was needed to allow this type of research to be done more regularly, with a significantly more rapid turnaround time from survey to data release to improve the monitoring of income and spending trends and patterns in South Africa.
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