Changes in Income Poverty Over the Post-Apartheid Period: An Analysis Based on Data From the 1993 Project for Statistics on Living Standards and Development and the 2008 Base Wave of the National Income Dynamics Study

Abstract

This paper compares the level and distribution of income poverty in the 2008 National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) to that measured in the 1993 Project for Statistics on Living Standards and Development (PSLSD). Attempts are made to make the income variables as comparable as possible across the two surveys. This requires that agricultural income and implied rental income from owner-occupied housing are excluded from the measure of income. The potential bias resulting from these exclusions is also discussed. The paper finds that aggregate poverty fell between 1993 and 2008 and that this result is robust for a wide range of poverty lines. The poverty profile has changed over time, however. Urban poverty has increased significantly, driven largely by increased migration from rural to urban areas. The share of poverty in households where the household head has incomplete secondary education has also increased markedly.