UNDP South Africa

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

In 2005, 1.4 billion people lived on US$1.25 or less a day. 10 million die every year of hunger and hunger-related diseases. Rising food prices may push 100 million people deeper into poverty. But fewer children below five are undernourished - from 33% in 1990 to 26% in 2006

Summary of Country report

Using national estimates of poverty and inequality in SA, the 2007 report indicates strong overall income growth, especially since 2002, resulting in the rise of the income of the poorest 10 and 20 percent of the population.

The severity of poverty has been reduced, especially since 2002. However, of concern is that income inequality seems to have increased over most of the period. With regard to target two the report observes a decline from 88 971 cases in 2001 to 30 082 in 2005.

Targets and indicators

Target 1.A: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day

• 1.1 Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day
• 1.2 Poverty gap ratio
• 1.3 Share of poorest quintile in national consumption
  
  Target 1.B: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
• 1.4 Growth rate of GDP per person employed
• 1.5 Employment-to-population ratio
• 1.6 Proportion of employed people living below $1 (PPP) per day
• 1.7 Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment
  
  

Target 1.C: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

• 1.8 Prevalence of underweight children under-five years of age
• 1.9 Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption