THE AGRARIAN RURAL HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY

6.2 MEAN HOUSEHOLD INCOMES
TABLE 10: MEAN AND MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME
(N=1,113)
Total annual
HH income
Mean R31,279.39 R2,606.28
Median R22,320 R1,860
Min 0 0
Monthly average
HH income
Max R528,000 R44,000
The survey reports low household incomes, with a monthly
average of R2,606.28. The median income is
R1,860/month. This is the amount below which half the
households fall. The most recent comprehensive national
survey of income was last conducted in 2005/06, which
indicated average rural household incomes of
R30,859/year (Stats SA, 2008:156), or R2,571.58/month.
Our figures are therefore very close to national averages,
taking into account three considerations.
Firstly, household incomes will tend to rise over the years
as a result of inflation (e.g., social grants), which has been
running at around 6%/year.
Secondly, black rural households are poorer than other
rural households, and will therefore be lower than the
average in the Stats SA survey.
Thirdly, our own survey is taken from amongst the poorer
rural population, measured by income, whether black or
coloured. We can therefore expect a lower than average
household income in our sample.
District statistics on income show widely divergent figures
for households earning incomes below R1,600 per month.
THE AGRARIAN RURAL HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY REPORT
These range from 24% to 98% (Annexure 2), and some
of the statistics are old.
The monthly average per household member in our
baseline is R646.72. This is R21.56 per day. Many poverty
lines have been proposed that we might compare this
with.
The UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) line is
US$1/day/person (R7.80 April 2012). This translates into
R234/month and a household poverty line of
R936/month. However, the US$1/day is a very old figure
and is used more for the purposes of measurement of
progress than an accurate reflection of what is needed
to avoid poverty. South Africa’s food security policy (DAFF,
2012:5) sets ‘a food poverty line of R260 per individual
expenditure for food every month to serve as a proxy
indicator for food security, this amount covers 70% of the
basic nutritious basket.’
So if we multiply R260 by our average household size
of four, we get a monthly household requirement of
R1,040 for our sample as a food poverty baseline. Below
that means no money for anything else if people are to
get 70% of their minimum nutritional requirements. Beyond
food, South African poverty lines of between R515 and
R949/capita (2008 values) have been used (Leibbrandt,
et al., 2010:17). For a household of four, that means
anything between R2,060 and R3,796 (2008). .
After taking inflation into account, we therefore find that
the average household income in our survey places these
households around the poverty line.
44