South Africans with post-matric qualifications are increasingly falling into poverty, a shift that reflects changing economic realities rather than progress in opportunity, the latest poverty trends from Stats SA show.
The trends highlighted a slight increase among those with higher education living below the poverty line.
Chief director for poverty and inequality statistics, Patricia Koka, said while poverty has declined broadly, the data shows a concerning reversal among educated groups.
“What we are observing is that poverty has continued to decline across all educational levels, except for a slight increase among those with higher education,” Koka said.
She said in 2015, those living in poverty with higher education stood at 6%, but that has increased to 7.4%.
Looking deeper into the composition of those living in poverty, Koka said the share of educated individuals is also growing.
“Those with higher education have added 2.1% to 3.9% from 2015 to 2023.”
She said people with matric have also seen a significant increase within the poverty group.
Koka’s presentation shows 37.9% of South Africans, about 23-million people, are living below the lower-bound poverty line, which is set at R1,300 per person per month.
She said there has been a reduction of about 2.5-million people living in poverty between 2015 and 2023, but “millions of South Africans are still living in poverty”.
The data also shows younger people remain heavily affected, particularly those under 24.
Koka said individuals “aged below 24 have higher rates of lower poverty lines compared to the higher ages”, indicating young people remain among the most vulnerable groups.
In 2023, 43.1% of those living in poverty were children, reinforcing the link between youth and poverty.
In Gauteng, the country’s economic hub, the data showed a mixed picture. Koka said poverty in the province increased by about 0.2% between 2015 and 2023, though it remains below the national average.
In 2023, Gauteng recorded a poverty rate of 26.5% compared with the national rate of 37.9%.
The data further shows poverty continues to disproportionately affect black South Africans.
Koka said 93.6% of the 23.2-million people who are falling below the lower poverty line were black Africans, highlighting the scale of inequality.
Gender disparities also remain, though the gap between men and women has narrowed over time.
Koka said females still make up a larger share of those in poverty, accounting for 53.6% of the poverty share in 2023.
Household size also plays a role, with larger households experiencing significantly higher poverty rates.
Koka said households with 10 or more members have poverty rates above 80%, while those with six or more members account for more than 60% of the poverty share.
Chief director for labour statistics, Desiree Manamela, said changes in the labour market are critical to understanding why educated individuals are falling into poverty.
She said new labour statistics frameworks capture a broader picture of employment challenges, including underemployment and discouraged job seekers.
“We are basically responsive to labour market changes,” Manamela said, noting the updates align with international standards.
She said unemployment alone does not fully capture the extent of economic hardship.
“As much as unemployment is a headline measure, it is still not sufficient to capture all groups with insufficient access to employment opportunities.”
Recent data shows in the fourth quarter of 2025, the official unemployment rate stood at 31.4%, with 7.8-million people unemployed.
However, when including discouraged job seekers and others in the potential labour force, the combined rate rises significantly.
The combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force stood at 42.1%, while the broader measure of labour under-utilisation reached 44.5%.
Manamela said this broader view highlights the scale of the challenge facing young and educated individuals trying to enter the labour market.
She said those aged 15 to 24 have “the highest unemployment rate with the lowest labour participation rate”.
Even among those aged 25 to 34, participation remains limited, with only 44.3% in employment.
This means many young people, including graduates, are either unable to find jobs or are not fully used in the labour market.
TimesLIVE
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