South Africa: national poverty line 2024| Statista

As of 2024, an individual living in South Africa with less than 1,109 South African rand (roughly 60 U.S. dollars) per month was considered poor. Furthermore, individuals who have roughly 796 South African rand (approximately 43 U.S. dollars) a month available for food were living below the poverty line, according to South African national standards.

National poverty line in South Africa in 2024 (in South African rand)

Characteristic	Food poverty line (FPL)	Lower-bound poverty line (LBPL)	Upper-bound poverty line (UBPL)
2024	796	1,109	1,634

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Release date

August 2024

More information

Region

South Africa

Survey time period

2024

Special properties

inflation-adjusted; poverty line per person per month

Supplementary notes

The source mentioned the following notes: ''The national poverty lines were constructed using the cost-of-basic-needs approach which links welfare to the consumption of goods and services. The lines contain both food and non-food components of household consumption expenditure.

Data as of May 2024.

Food poverty line – R796 (in May 2024 prices) per person per month. This refers to the amount of money that an individual will need to afford the minimum required daily energy intake. This is also commonly referred to as the “extreme” poverty line;
Lower-bound poverty line – R1 109 (in May 2024 prices) per person per month. This refers to the food poverty line plus the average amount derived from non-food items of households whose total expenditure is equal to the food poverty line; and
Upper-bound poverty line – R1 634 (in May 2024 prices) per person per month. This refers to the food poverty line plus the average amount derived from non-food items of households whose food expenditure is equal to the food poverty line."

Currency conversion, one U.S. dollar = 18.50 South African rand as of 2/13/2025.

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