The Child Support Grant and teenage childbearing in South Africa

Figures & data

Figure 1: Trends in teenage specific fertility rates 1980–2009

Table 1: Decline in teenage fertility, 1998–2003

	Teenage specific fertility rate
	1998	2003	Percentage decline
Province
Western Cape	67	35	46
Eastern Cape	79	53	33
Northern Cape	75	55	38
Free State	55	51	7
Kwazulu-Natal	92	69	25
North West	60	62	(3)
Gauteng	52	35	33
Mpumalanga	100	64	36
Limpopo	90	59	34
Population group
African	81	58	28
Coloured	81	48	41
Indian	26	24	8
White	20	14	30
Place of residence
Rural	99	66	33
Urban	56	41	27
All South Africa	76	53	30
Notes: Data for 1998 were calculated from DoH (2001, 2006).

Table 2: Estimated percentages of children receiving the Child Support Grant in each province, 1999 and 2005

Province	0–7 years, March 1999	0–14 years, March 2005
Eastern Cape	0.30	52.08
Northern Cape	0.82	60.66
Western Cape	0.27	30.80
Mpumalanga	0.08	50.86
Gauteng	0.12	34.63
KwaZulu-Natal	0.26	46.65
North West	0.18	43.70
Free State	0.28	43.06
Limpopo	0.08	49.74
Source: Administrative data from the Department of Social Development.

Table 3: Estimated age distribution of Child Support Grant beneficiaries in March 1999 and March 2005

Age group	Percentage of beneficiaries in March 1998	Percentage of beneficiaries in March 2005	Percentage of fertility contribution of different age groups (2005)
15–19	1.64	2.69	15
20–24	14.86	16.61	28
25–29	21.90	21.62	23
30–34	19.24	19.35	17
35–39	18.43	15.11	10
40–44	11.90	10.66	4
45–49	5.87	5.82	0.5
50–54	2.29	3.13	–
55–60	1.93	2.01	–
60 +		2.95	–
Source: Administrative data from the Department of Social Development.

Figure 2: Overall fertility trends in South Africa

Figure 3: Number of abortions conducted in public institutions per year

Chimere-Dan , O . 2008 . Teenage childbearing in South Africa: Trend and explanations . Africa Strategic Research , A document prepared for the Africa Indicator Research Group

 Google Scholar

DoH (Department of Health) . 2001 . South African Demographic and Health Survey 1998 , Pretoria : Government Printers .

 Google Scholar

DoH (Department of Health) . 2006 . South African Demographic and Health Survey 2003 , Pretoria : Government Printers .

 Google Scholar

Udjo , E . 2003 . A re-examination of levels and differential in fertility in South Africa from recent evidence . Journal of Biosocial Science , 35 ( 3 ) : 413 – 31 .

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar