Child Poverty and the Budget in South Africa – A South African Child-Focused Budget Study

Child Poverty and the Budget in South Africa – A South African Child-Focused Budget Study, is part of an international project about the development of methods for budget analysis in seven of the countries participating in Save the Children Sweden programmes: Ethiopia, El Salvador, Peru, South Africa, Sweden, Vietnam, and the West Bank and Gaza. Each country has selected the subject of its budget study on the basis of specific national conditions.

Child poverty is extensive in South Africa. For example, the income indicators of child poverty, based on either a relative or absolute definition, tell us that between 60% and 70% of South Africa’s children are poor. This adds up to between 10.5 and 11.5 million children or 25% of the South African population. The aim of this study is to make a contribution towards monitoring government’s performance in delivering on its promises to poor children. The introduction section presents a framework for understanding child poverty and briefly sets out the strategies adopted by government to reduce child poverty in South Africa. It also discusses the methodology adopted and the structure of the study.

Read here the summaries of the eight child-focused budget studies.