A house cannot be repaired by guessing where the roof leaks, an African proverb warns. Poverty in South Africa is much like that roof latent when ignored, yet corrosive, seeping into every corner of society.
We cannot address what we cannot see. Measuring poverty accurately is not a technical exercise it is the sine qua non of social justice, human dignity and sustainable development. How deprivation is defined and tracked shapes public understanding, informs policy and directs resources to those most in need. It is for this reason that Stats SA, following extensive consultation, was mandated to establish a credible and transparent monetary measure of poverty to support evidence-based policy.
In 2012, South Africa introduced its first official national poverty lines NPLs, using the internationally recognised cost-of-basic-needs approach. The food poverty line, the lower-bound poverty line, and the upper-bound poverty line capture different depths of deprivation. They reflect the daily realities of households forced to choose between food and transport, rent and school uniforms, heating and health care.
