Poverty and Food Insecurity in Impoverished Settlements of Johannesburg

The presentation is based on data from a longitudinal study on health, environment and development issues, which involves annual cross sectional household surveys. In 2005, a pilot study was conducted reaching a total of 625 households, of these 584 interviews were completed. In 2006, follow up survey was conducted. The study will involve multivariate analysis of 2005 and 2006 data to describe poverty factors and to determine key policy issues for further research.

Results from the 2005 pilot showed that more than half of the households, 52.8%, lived on an income of less than R1000 (USD 138) per month. The average money spent on food for all households was R505 per month, but also varied by settlements at R352 in the informal settlement and R630 for the apartheid township. When asked how often households eat less because there is not enough money, 30% said sometimes, and 12% said it is often or always. In 6.9% households, children often or always go to bed without food. Almost 30% households receive social grants, and for 2.2% of those households this was the sole source of income. The 2006 data will be available to compare with the pilot data in time for the presentation and the policy implications of these results will be discussed.