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Restructuring of Households in Rural South Africa: Reflections on Average Household Size in the Agincourt Sub-district 1992-2003

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Listed:
  • Martin Wittenberg

    (SALDRU, School of Economics, University of Cape Town)

  • Mark Collinson

Abstract

South Africa has seen a dramatic decrease in household size over the last decade. In Table 1 we show that over the eight-and-a-half years from October 1995 to March 2004 the average household size has decreased by 20% or 0.74 persons (see also Pirouz 2004). Consequently for a fixed population size there would have been 20% more households in March 2004 than in October 1995. Such a rapid rate of household formation is interesting in and of itself. From the perspective of a policy maker it is particularly vital to understand this process. The new democratic government has committed itself to extending infrastructure and social services to households in deprived communities and now finds that it is trying to catch a moving target. The backlogs are increasing as the services are being rolled out. We will suggest below that there might be a connection between these two processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Wittenberg & Mark Collinson, 2007. "Restructuring of Households in Rural South Africa: Reflections on Average Household Size in the Agincourt Sub-district 1992-2003," SALDRU Working Papers 12, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    • Handle: RePEc:ldr:wpaper:12
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    Cited by:

    1. Nic Baigrie & Katherine Eyal, 2014. "An Evaluation of the Determinants and Implications of Panel Attrition in the National Income Dynamics Survey (2008-2010)," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(1), pages 39-65, March.
    2. Alexis Sienaert, 2008. "The Labour Supply Effects of the South African State Old Age Pension: Theory, Evidence and Implications," SALDRU Working Papers 20, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    3. Steven F. Koch, 2017. "Does the Equivalence Scale Matter? Equivalence and Out-of-Pocket Payments," Working Papers 201746, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.

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