THE AGRARIAN RURAL HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY

This section provides an overview of the demographic
characteristics of the respondent households in the survey.
It looks at household size, gender and age, and then
has some focus on education and employment. .
The municipal areas where the research was conducted
range from fairly sparsely populated areas (Cederberg,
Swellendam, Emadlangeni, Hessequa) to the very densely
populated (Makhado, Newcastle, Mbizana, Mbhashe).
Although there is growing urbanisation in most of the
municipalities, just three have an urban population of
over 50% (Newcastle, Swellendam and Breede Valley,
with 49% of Cederberg’s population urbanised). At the
other end of the spectrum, just 5% of the populations of
Mbizana, Mbhashe and Makhado live in urban areas
(see situation analysis report, attached as Annexure 2).
4.1 HOUSEHOLD SIZE, GENDER AND AGE
TABLE 3: TOTAL RESIDENTS IN SAMPLED HOUSEHOLDS
N 1,735
Mean 4.03
Minimum 1
Maximum 22
Sum 6,987
The average household size in the survey is 4.03. The
sample covers households with a total of 6,987 members,
and household sizes vary from one to 22 members.
Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) for the municipalities
and districts where the research sites are located show
household sizes of between 3.3 (Swellendam in W Cape)
and six (Upper Gxulu in E Cape), with most towards the
THE AGRARIAN RURAL HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY REPORT
demographics
lower end (see situation analysis report, Annexure 2). In
this context 4.03 appears reasonable. Sixty-three percent
of households surveyed had four or fewer people in the
household. The majority of the remainder had five to 10
regular household members (35%). A greater proportion
of households in communal areas are small compared
with other tenure types, with 71% having four or fewer
members. The findings contradict the pattern established
during apartheid which saw the homelands or communal
areas serving as locations for the surplus population,
which would swell in numbers when times were hard.
However, they do accord with the urbanisation trends
indicated below and in the situation analysis report
(Annexure 2). Church land (50%), informal
settlements/towns (54.3%) and farm dweller households
(55.3%) tend to have fewer small households.
Commonage and land reform households are in the
middle.
TABLE 4: HOUSEHOLD SIZES
N %
1-4 1,090 62.8
5-10 603 34.8
>10 42 2.4
Total HH 1,735
Relatively small household sizes compared with historically
large rural households may have a number of causes,
including one-way migration to urban areas, declining
fertility rates, higher numbers of deaths, and greater
subdivision of households. Urban migration has been
noted as an issue in a number of the research sites. .
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