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Poverty and social economic scope
Poverty and social economic scope

The Eastern Cape Province, home to the previous homelands, is one of the impoverished parts of South Africa. Estimated as having 19,170,084 people living in poverty in the country in 2009, the Eastern Cape is estimated as having 3,564,504 people living below the breadline. This is, however, drastically less than the 4,324,845 living in poverty in 2003.  The breakdown per district is as follows:

District

Estimated numbers for 2009

Cacadu District Municipality

148,764

Amathole District Municipality

907,499

Chris Hani District Municipality

584,648

Ukhahlamba District Municipality

221,312

OR Tambo District Municipality

1,121,398

Alfred Nzo District Municipality

321,493

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality

312,227

 

However, it is essential to take into account that 61.2% of the Eastern Cape’s residence live in rural areas. The Human Development Indicator for the Province, in 2009, is estimated at: 0.54. The poverty levels of the Eastern Cape can also be attributed to the number of illiterate people in the region.

 

 

Estimated numbers for 2009

Percentage

Illiterate

1,075,855

34.1%

Literate

2,075,971

65.9%