Only 8% of South African households possess all 22 Perceived Necessities for a decent standard of living, while just over a quarter of households in a survey reported that they have almost all the desired possessions, or perceived necessities, for a dignified life.

The latest Decent Standard of Living: Findings on possession of the social perceived necessities in 2022 report focuses on how the non-income dimensions of poverty, known as socially perceived necessities (SPNs), affect people’s lives according to these three categories:

• social networks, such as someone to look after you if you are ill
• commodities people buy, such as a fridge and
• the social wage and services provided by the state, such as electricity.

The 22 perceived necessities include a cell phone, a fridge, enough clothing to keep you warm and dry, a house strong enough to withstand rain or wind, separate bedrooms for adults and children, a flush toilet, shower or bath in the house, a fence or wall around the property and burglar bars, as well as a large local supermarket and transport in an emergency.

Also included are electricity in the house, street lights, tarred roads close to the house, no garbage in the streets and police visibility, as well as paid employment, the ability to afford prescribed medicines and regular savings for emergencies, as well as the ability to pay for or contribute to funerals and the ability to buy complete school uniforms without hardship.

Someone to talk to if you are upset or depressed, someone to look after you if you are very ill, the ability to visit friends and family in hospital and an adult always at home with children under ten and a safe place for children to play are also part of the necessities.

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The report notes that the percentage of people possessing each of the 22 SPNs is higher today than it was in 2015, which is a positive finding about improvements in living standards, while the cost of acquiring all SPNs dropped from R8 327 per person per month in 2018 to R6 034 today.

A cell phone, mains electricity in the house and a fridge are the top three SPNs possessed by those surveyed, but some SPNs, such as police on the streets and a neighbourhood without rubbish, are possessed only when people also have 18 of the 22 SPNs. Being able to afford prescribed medicines and having regular savings for emergencies are amongst the least possessed.

The lives of children did not improve much. Having somewhere for children to play safely outside the house increased from 36.5% in 2015 to 50.4% in 2022. However, fewer respondents were able to always have an adult at home to look after a child under ten and fewer could afford complete school uniform for children without hardship at just over 65% in 2022, compared to nearly 84% eight years earlier.

The report findings also reflect the inequalities that exist across society, as 89% of the group that possessed all 22 SPNs are urban dwellers, predominantly in Gauteng and the Western Cape, while 80% of the group with fewer than 10 SPNs lived in rural areas.

Although 57% of those with 22 SPNs are black Africans, this is only 6% of all the black Africans surveyed.

The Social Policy Initiative, the Southern African Social Policy Research Institute and the Labour Research Service produced the report in collaboration with UNICEF South Africa, the department of social development and the Wits University Chair of Social Security.

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“Inclusive methods to measure well-being and deprivation in South Africa, the most unequal country in the world, are essential. To guarantee a prosperous life for all, where not only the elite thrive, but we must also better understand these deprivations so that policies can be adopted now to improve daily lives, as promised in the Constitution and international human rights treaties,” Isobel Frye, executive director of the Social Policy Initiative, said at the launch of the report.

“These findings provide the important nuances needed to better understand how lives, including children’s, are affected by poverty that is not only defined by income. This work goes to the heart of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on poverty reduction and responds directly to UN recommendations for South Africa to develop an adequate standard of living measure,” Aleta Miller, UN Women representative in South Africa, said.

The mean household size for the group who possess all 22 SPNs is 3.7 people and 61% of this group have children in the household. For those with 10 SPNs or fewer, the mean household size is larger at 5.2 people and 80% of this group have children in the household.

“The SPN approach provides important details on the deprivations affecting people’s lives but going forward we want to spend a lot more time understanding the data with a specific focus on the well-being of women and children in South Africa,” Frye said.