Orphans of the AIDS epidemic? The extent, nature and circumstances of child-headed households in South Africa

Figures & data

Table 1. Distribution of individuals and households in child-only, mixed-generation and adult-only households in South Africa, 2006.

	Individuals			Households
Household type	Percentage (%)	95% CI	Illustrative #	Percentage (%)	95% CI	Illustrative #
Child-only	0.26	(0.20–0.32)	122,241	0.47	(0.35–0.58)	60,410
Mixed-generation	79.79	(78.65–80.93)	37,813,524	58.32	(56.78–59.85)	7,564,939
Adult-only	19.95	(18.80–21.10)	9,455,265	41.22	(39.66–42.78)	5,346,402
Total	100.00		47,391,030	100.00		12,971,751
Note: Own calculations based on General Household Survey 2006. CI – confidence interval; # – number.

Figure 1.  Proportion of children living in child-only households, 2000–2007. Note: calculations based on the General Household Survey (GHS) 2002–2006 and Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2000–2007.

Figure 2.  Proportion of children living in child-only households by South African Province, 2002–2006. Note: Own calculations based on the General Household Survey 2002–2006.

Table 2. Proportion and number of children in child-only households in South Africa, 2006.

Province	% children^a	95% CI	Illustrative # children	National share of children in COHs (%)
Western Cape	<0.01	(0.00–0.01)	43	0
Eastern Cape	0.98	(0.53–1.44)	31,328	26
Northern Cape	0.09	(0.00–0.19)^b	306	0
Free State	0.41	(0.07–0.75)	4577	4
KwaZulu-Natal	0.97	(0.53–1.41)	37,079	30
North West	0.24	(0.05–0.42)	3393	3
Gauteng	0.00	(0.00–0.01)	119	0
Mpumalanga	0.38	(0.10–0.66)	5318	4
Limpopo	1.51	(0.93–2.09)	40,078	33
South Africa	0.67	(0.51–0.83)	122,241	100
Note: Own calculations based on General Household Survey 2006. COH – child-only household; CI – confidence interval; # – number.
^aPercentage of all children living in child-only households. ^bNormal approximation of binomial confidence interval resulted in a reported lower CI below 0 which was rounded up to 0.

Table 3. Orphan status of children in South Africa, 2006 and 2002.

	2006			2002
Orphan status	Children (%)	95% CI	Illustrative # children	Children (%)	95% CI	Illustrative # children
Non-orphan	79.5	(78.4–80.6)	14,475,492	83.6	(82.9–84.2)	15,117,379
Maternal orphan	3.3	(3.0–3.6)	596,837	2.7	(2.5–3.0)	491,736
Paternal only	13.6	(12.8–14.4)	2,475,355	11.7	(11.2–12.3)	2,124,756
Double orphan	3.6	(3.3–4.0)	660,270	2.0	(1.8–2.2)	356,892
(Unspecified)			35,257			12,855
Total			18,243,211			18,103,618
Note: Own calculations based on General Household Survey 2006. CI – confidence interval; # – number.

Table 4. Orphan status of children living in mixed-generation and child-only households in South Africa, 2006.

	Mixed-generation households^a			Child-only households^a
	Children (%)	95% CI	Illustrative # children	Children (%)	95% CI	Illustrative # children
Non-orphans	79.6	(78.5–80.7)	14,399,555	62.1	(51.2–73.1)	75,937
Maternal orphans	3.2	(2.9–3.5)	582,776	11.5	(4.6–18.4)	14,061
Paternal orphans	13.6	(12.7–14.4)	2,452,761	18.5	(10.4–26.5)	22,594
Double orphans	3.6	(3.2–4.0)	650,621	7.9	(1.7–14.1)	9649
Total	100.0		18,085,713	100.0		122,241
Note: Own calculations based on General Household Survey 2006. CI – confidence interval; # – number.
^aChi-square p<0.001 comparing the distribution of orphan status between household forms.

Table 5. Demographic characteristics of mixed-generation and child-only households in South Africa, 2006.

	Mixed-generation households				Child-only households
	(%)^a	95% CI^a	Illustrative #	P-value^b	(%)^b	95% CI^a	Illustrative #
Age distributiof children^c				<0.001
Children in 0–6 age group	39.5	(38.6–40.4)	7,160,184		7.9	(4.5–11.2)	9620
Children in 7–13 age group	38.4	(37.6–39.1)	6,949,417		37.1	(31.0–43.2)	45,294
Children in 14–17 group All children	22.1	(21.5–22.7)	4,007,642		55.1	(48.1–62.1)	67,327
All children	100.0		18,117,243		100.0		122,241
Median (IQR)	9	(5–13)		<0.001^d	15	(11–16)
Oldest child				<0.001^d
Median age (IQR)	13	(9–16)			16	(15–17)
Oldest child is 15+ years	38.4	(36.8–39.9)			88.3	(82.1–94.5)
Gender^c				0.90
Male	50.2	(48.5–52.0)	9,097,234		47.6	(37.2–58.0)	60,184
Female	49.8	(48.0–51.5)	9,014,999		52.4	(42.0–62.8)	65,286
Race^c				0.003
African	84.2	(81.9–86.4)	15,245,877		97.4	(93.7–101.1)	118,572
Income poverty (monthly HH expenditure)
< R400/month	15.1	(14.0–16.1)		<0.001	46.9	(35.5–58.2)
< R1200/month	67.5	(65.2–69.9)		<0.001	88.9	(80.9–97.0)
Main income source				<0.001
Wages	54.1	(51.4–56.7)			7.8	(3.1–12.4)
Remittances	10.7	(9.8–11.6)			77.4	(68.3–86.4)
Grants	29.6	(27.4–31.8)			6.8	(0.6–13.1)
Other	4.5	(4.0–5.0)			4.4	(0.0–9.0)^e
None	1.2	(0.9–1.5)			3.6	(0.0–7.8)^e
Access to child support grant^c				0.013
Uptake: children <14 years	45.8	(43.9–47.7)	6,451,380		28.6	(16.1–41.1)	15,700
School attendance^c				0.260
School-age attending (%)	96.0	(95.5–96.4)	10,500,000		94.6	(91.8–97.4)	106,494
Employment in the household
Someone working	62.9	(60.5–65.3)	4,757,930	<0.001	5.9	(2.0–9.9)	3591
Child >15 years working^c	1.2	(0.8–1.6)		<0.001	6.0	(2.0–10.0)
Note: Own calculations based on General Household Survey 2006. CI – confidence interval; HH – household; # – number; IQR - interquartile range
^aUnless otherwise stated.
^bChi-square test accounting for survey design, unless otherwise stated.
^cIndividual level analysis. All other analyses are at household level.
^dWilcoxon rank-sum test, unweighted.
^eNormal approximation of binomial confidence interval resulted in a reported lower CI below 0 which was rounded up to 0.

Table 6. Housing characteristics of mixed-generation and child-only households in South Africa, 2006.

	Mixed-generation households				Child-only households
		95% CI	Illustrative #	p-value^a		95% CI	Illustrative #
Household size				<0.001^b
Median # HH members	5				2
Interquartile range	4–6				1–3
Prop. with 1 HH member	–				43.6	(32.8–54.5)
Housing type				0.014
Formal dwelling	69.7%	(66.9–72.5)	5,241,305		55.2%	(45.2–65.1)	32,052
Informal dwelling	16.6%	(14.7–18.4)	1,246,122		20.4%	(9.3–31.5)	11,879
Traditional dwelling	13.7%	(10.6–16.8)	1,031,840		24.4%	(15.2–33.6)	14,163
Area type				0.029
Metro (six main cities)	32.2%	(28.7–35.7)	2,433,212		14.3%	(2.0–26.6)	8614
Non-metro	67.8%	(64.3–71.3)	5,131,416		85.7%	(73.4–98.0)	51,796
Municipal services
Adequate sanitation	60.5%	(57.2–63.9)	4,580,100	<0.001	33.1%	(24.3–41.9)	20,005
Water on site	65.2%	(61.5–68.8)	4,929,210	<0.001	37.7%	(27.8–47.6)	22,773
Electricity mains	80.0%	(77.5–82.4)	6,030,823	0.010	69.5%	(60.2–78.7)	40,681
Note: Own calculations based on General Household Survey 2006. CI – confidence interval; HH – household; # – number; Prop–proportion.
^aChi-square test accounting for survey design, unless otherwise stated.
^bWilcoxon rank-sum test, unweighted.

Figure 3.  Age profile of children in mixed-generation and child-only households in South Africa, 2006.