South Africa: national poverty line 2015-2023

As of 2023, an individual living in South Africa with less than 1,058 South African rand (roughly 56.06 U.S. dollars) per month was considered poor. Compared to the previous year, this was higher by 113 South African rand. Furthermore, individuals who have roughly 760 South African rand (approximately 40.27 U.S. dollars) a month available for food were living below the poverty line, according to South African national standards.

National poverty line in South Africa from 2015 to 2023 (in South African rand)

Characteristic	Food poverty line (FPL)	Lower-bound poverty line (LBPL)	Upper-bound poverty line (UBPL)
2023	760	1,058	1,558
2022	663	945	1,417
2021	624	890	1,335
2020	585	840	1,268
2019	561	810	1,227
2018	547	785	1,183
2017	531	758	1,138
2016	498	714	1,077
2015	441	647	992

Loading statistic...

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Source

Use Ask Statista Research Service

Release date

August 2023

More information

Region

South Africa

Survey time period

2015 to 2023

Special properties

inflation-adjusted; poverty line per person per month

Supplementary notes

The source mentioned the following notes: ''The national poverty lines were constructed using the cost-of-basic-needs approach which links welfare to the consumption of goods and services. The lines contain both food and non-food components of household consumption expenditure.

Data as of April each year except the year 2023, which is taken from May.

Food poverty line – R760 (in May 2023 prices) per person per month. This refers to the amount of money that an individual will need to afford the minimum required daily energy intake. This is also commonly referred to as the “extreme” poverty line;
Lower-bound poverty line – R1 058 (in May 2023 prices) per person per month. This refers to the food poverty line plus the average amount derived from non-food items of households whose total expenditure is equal to the food poverty line; and
Upper-bound poverty line – R1 558 (in May 2023 prices) per person per month. This refers to the food poverty line plus the average amount derived from non-food items of households whose food expenditure is equal to the food poverty line."

Currency conversion 1,00 South African rand = 0.053 US dollars as of 22 September 2023.

Citation formats