Cape Town - A new Statistics SA survey has revealed that South Africa’s population is increasingly ageing and that the cohort of those aged 60 and older now makes up 5.6 million people or 9.2% of the population.
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said this data, taken from the General Household Survey, was further confirmed by the increase in the ageing index, which measures the proportion of people aged 60 and older to the population of children aged 15 and younger.
The ageing index increased from 30 in 2017 to 33 in 2022, showing that the population is progressively ageing.
The survey also found that the older population is disproportionately female; older people in all provinces are more likely to be female.
Maluleke said the South African population structure was characterised by declining birth rates and improved overall quality of life.
He said: “This improvement contributes to longer life expectancy. Even though birth rates are declining, it does not relate to birth declining.”
The survey showed that between 2017 and 2022, the Eastern Cape and Western Cape had the highest share of older people compared with other provinces.
Maluleke said: “The rise in the number of older people has implications for planning and policy formulation, especially regarding social safety nets provided for them.”
The survey also showed that about half of these older people live in households where nobody has a job and rely on an old-age grant.
“The older people-headed households from non-metro areas relied more on social grants than those in metro areas.”
The survey said households headed by older people tended to have grandparents living with their grandchildren and that such households which skip a generation account for at least 13.9% of the households where the older people live.
Maluleke said that the demographic profile of older people suggests pronounced differences along racial and gender lines.
“For example, the black African population is relatively young, with a lower share of older people at 62.1% than their representation in the general population, where they are at 81%.
“At the same time, the share of white older people among the total population is significantly higher, at 23%, than their representation in the population, which is 7.7%.”
The survey showed that the ageing index for different population groups among older people marginally increased for black Africans from 22 in 2017 to 24 in 2022 and that during the same period, the index for white people increased from 155 to 181.
The survey also found that the three health conditions most common among older people were high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma.
High blood pressure and asthma were more common among men than women, while diabetes was more common among women.
According to the survey, huge disparities along racial lines were noted when medical aid coverage was considered.
Medical aid coverage was the highest for white older people, with 75.7% being covered, and lowest for black African older people, where only 5.4% had medical aid cover.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za