Joburg is still SA’s migration capital
According to Statistics South Africa's Community Survey 2016, Joburg’s population grew by half a million people in the last five years.
|||Johannesburg - Joburgers are getting older and a little less crowded.
This according to Statistics South Africa's Community Survey 2016, released on Thursday and intended to provide comparisons with Census 2011 statistics, reveals.
The City of Joburg has 4 949 347 people, with slightly more men than women.
That's about half a million more people than in 2011.
There are now 4.95 million households in Joburg, an increase of nearly 420 000.
Joburg’s population is getting a little older, with about 220 000 less youths than five years ago - about 33 percent of Joburgers are youth (15 to 34), compared to 42 percent of Joburg’s population in 2011.
In 2011, Joburg had a slightly higher proportion of youth than Tshwane and Ekurhuleni; now it has slightly less than those metros.
Gauteng’s population increased by 9 percent from five years ago to 13 399 725.
About 34 percent of Gauteng’s population are youths, a big drop from the 41 percent of 2011.
The only Gauteng municipalities to lose people were Westonaria and Merafong City.
The survey looked at the poverty headcount, which is the proportion of the population in poverty, and the intensity of poverty, which counts the number of indicators in which poor households are deprived.
Joburg has few really poor people, but the poor generally are a bit worse off than five years ago.
The poverty headcount dropped from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent.
But the intensity of poverty increased from 43.3 percent to 44.1 percent.
The poverty headcount dropped across Gauteng from 4.8 percent to 4.6 percent, with all municipalities except Ekurhuleni improving, but the poverty intensity was up slightly.
Worst off is Westonaria, where the poverty headcount is nearly 15 percent.
Homes are a little less crowded, with the average number of people in each Joburg home dropping from 3.1 to 2.7 people.
More Joburgers are living in formal houses, but more are living in informal shacks too, with the percentage of those in shacks remaining at about 22 percent.
About 90 percent of Joburg homes have electricity, about 91 percent have a flush or chemical toilet and 96 percent have access to piped water.
Five years ago, 91 percent had flush or chemical toilets, and 99 percent had access to piped water; there were no comparisons for electricity.
Gauteng is still seen as the place to move to, as the province receiving the most migrants.
louise.flanagan@inl.co.za
The Star