Country stats distilled into village life

In the village, there would be a 50/50 balance between the sexes. Young people will be the majority of the population with 52 out of the 100 younger than 35. The average age will be 36.51 years. One can thus expect issues concerning younger people, such as education, economic opportunities and development to be of concern.

The population group profile did not change much over the last 16 years. Currently three quarters of the inhabitants of the village will be black, while the other quarter is made up of minority population groups.

Zulu, English, Xhosa and Afrikaans are the biggest home languages in the South African village, while the dominant position of English in understanding and reading is clear: more than 9 out of every 10 people in the village understand English, while 17 in every 20 can also read English.

Religion

Currently 57 out of the 100 adults in the village are Christian (either Roman Catholic or Protestant). In 2008, 73 out of the 100 "villagers" claimed to be Christian. The ZCC/the Church of Shembe/other African Independent Churches form the religious home of almost a fifth of South African adults. However, a similar proportion indicated that they would not classify themselves as belonging to any religious group.

Thirteen out of the 100 have one or more domestic helpers and in 58% there are children younger than 15 in the house.

Almost half of the village is made up of houses/cluster houses and townhouses and a further quarter live in RDP or the so-called "matchbox" houses.

Households that have tap water in the house or on the stand/in the yard have increased from 68 in 2008 to 77 and 34 have hot water from a geyser (this was 31 in 2008). The ownership of household appliances and furniture has increased since 2008.

Communication

Communication in the village is increasing but 80% still have no internet access, with 6% accessing the internet at work, 6% at home and 13% via cellphone. Those who own, rent or use a cellphone has increased to 83, from 80 in 2008. There has been little change in transport, 31% own or drive a car, station wagon, bakkie, or mini-bus - 19 have one vehicle, 10 have two vehicles and two have three or more vehicles, showing little change from 2008's figure of 30.

Banking services have increased with only 42 inhabitants not using any banking service (in 2008 50 inhabitants did not use any banking service but this time 5% refused to give an answer. The bulk of the village (44%) has a LSM of 5-6.

Currently just more than a third (36%) of the villagers is employed (either full-time or part-time), with the average of people earning money in each household at 1.46. In 2008, 42 were employed (full-time or part-time) of which 21 are male and 15 female. Of the 36, six are self-employed with 26 employed full-time and the other 10 part-time.

Of the 64 unemployed, 29 are male and 35 are female. In terms of position, six are housewives, 14 are students, 10 are retired, 30 are looking for work (thus 46% of those unemployed are looking for work) and four are no longer looking for a work opportunity. In 2008, 26 were unemployed and looking for work. More than one in every five (22%) refused to share information about the household income and more than four in every ten (42%) have a household income of less than R5000 per month.

Education, voters

Education qualifications probably need some attention, as 51 do not have matric, although the results could assume that most of the group between 15 and 20 years old are still at school.

If the village consisted of voters only (those 18 years and older), 63 would vote for the ANC if there were an election tomorrow; 18 for the Democratic Alliance; two for the IFP; one for Cope; two for other parties and 14 don't know, will not say or will spoil their ballot papers. For 25% there is no political party that represents their views (this was 20 in 2008).

52% believe that children in South Africa have good future prospects, 40 believe that race relations in the country are improving, though 14 say race relations are deteriorating. 45 believe the country is going in the right direction and 33 are saying it is going in the wrong direction. 56 say the government is doing very well or fairly well with the promotion of nation building in South Africa.

Statistics

Furniture, facilities and appliances in the household

• 88 have a television set (this was 70 in 2008)
  
• 84 have an electric stove
  
• 80 have a fridge and/or freezer
  
• 65 have a DVD player
  
• 59 have a flush toilet
  
• 46 have a built-in kitchen sink
  
• 38 have a washing machine
  
• 26 households subscribe to MNet/DStv
  
• 18 have a vacuum cleaner and/or polisher
  
• 18 have a personal desktop/laptop
  
• 11 households make use of a home security service
  
• 11 have a landline telephone in working order (this is less than in 2008 when 17 had a landline telephone in working order)
  
• 9 have a tumbledryer
  
• 9 have a VCR
  
• 4 have a dishwasher

Wider view

In South Africa as a whole, the current population distribution is as follows:

Sources:

• Ipsos Khayabus, Demographic Detail November 2011
  
• Ipsos Socio-Political Trends January 2012
  
• Ipsos Government Performance Barometer January 2012
  
• StatsSA Census 1996