South Africa is the sixth African country with the largest population, counting approximately 60.5 million individuals as of 2021. In 2023, the largest city in South Africa was Cape Town. The capital of Western Cape counted 3.4 million inhabitants, whereas South Africa's second largest city was Durban (eThekwini Municipality), with 3.1 million inhabitants. Note that when observing the number of inhabitants by municipality, Johannesburg is counted as largest city/municipality of South Africa.

From four provinces to nine provinces

Before Nelson Mandela became president in 1994, the country had four provinces, Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal and 10 “homelands” (also called Bantustans). The four larger regions were for the white population while the homelands for its black population. This system was dismantled following the new constitution of South Africa in 1996 and reorganized into nine provinces. Currently, Gauteng is the most populated province with around 15.9 million people residing there, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 11.68 million inhabiting the province. As of 2022, Black African individuals were almost 81 percent of the total population in the country, while colored citizens followed amounting to around 5.34 million.

A diverse population

Although the majority of South Africans are identified as Black, the country’s population is far from homogenous, with different ethnic groups usually residing in the different “homelands”. This can be recognizable through the various languages used to communicate between the household members and externally. IsiZulu was the most common language of the nation with around a quarter of the population using it in- and outside of households. IsiXhosa and Afrikaans ranked second and third with roughly 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Abstract

The Project for Statistics on Living standards and Development was a countrywide World Bank Living Standards Measurement Survey. It covered approximately 9000 households, drawn from a representative sample of South African households. The fieldwork was undertaken during the nine months leading up to the country's first democratic elections at the end of April 1994. The purpose of the survey was to collect statistical information about the conditions under which South Africans live in order to provide policymakers with the data necessary for planning strategies. This data would aid the implementation of goals such as those outlined in the Government of National Unity's Reconstruction and Development Programme.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

Households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

(a) SAMPLE SIZE

Sample size is 9,000 households. The sample design adopted for the study was a two-stage self-weighting design in which the first stage units were Census Enumerator Subdistricts (ESDs, or their equivalent) and the second stage were households. The advantage of using such a design is that it provides a representative sample that need not be based on accurate census population distribution.in the case of South Africa, the sample will automatically include many poor people, without the need to go beyond this and oversample the poor. Proportionate sampling as in such a self-weighting sample design offers the simplest possible data files for further analysis, as weights do not have to be added. However, in the end this advantage could not be retained, and weights had to be added. The sampling frame was drawn up on the basis of small, clearly demarcated area units, each with a population estimate. The nature of the self-weighting procedure adopted ensured that this population estimate was not important for determining the final sample, however. For most of the country, census ESDs were used. Where some ESDs comprised relatively large populations as for instance in some black townships such as Soweto, aerial photographs were used to divide the areas into blocks of approximately equal population size. In other instances, particularly in some of the former homelands, the area units were not ESDs but villages or village groups. In the sample design chosen, the area stage units (generally ESDs) were selected with probability proportional to size, based on the census population.

(b) SAMPLE DESIGN

Systematic sampling was used throughout that is, sampling at fixed interval in a list of ESDs, starting at a randomly selected starting point. Given that sampling was self-weighting, the impact of stratification was expected to be modest. The main objective was to ensure that the racial and geographic breakdown approximated the national population distribution. This was done by listing the area stage units (ESDs) by statistical region and then within the statistical region by urban or rural. Within these sub-statistical regions, the ESDs were then listed in order of percentage African. The sampling interval for the selection of the ESDs was obtained by dividing the 1991 census population of 38,120,853 by the 300 clusters to be selected. This yielded 105,800. Starting at a randomly selected point, every 105,800th person down the cluster list was selected. This ensured both geographic and racial diversity (ESDs were ordered by statistical sub-region and proportion of the population African). In three or four instances, the ESD chosen was judged inaccessible and replaced with a similar one. In the second sampling stage the unit of analysis was the household. In each selected ESD a listing or enumeration of households was carried out by means of a field operation. From the households listed in an ESD a sample of households was selected by systematic sampling. Even though the ultimate enumeration unit was the household, in most cases "stands" were used as enumeration units. However, when a stand was chosen as the enumeration unit all households on that stand had to be interviewed. Census population data, however, was available only for 1991. An assumption on population growth was thus made to obtain an approximation of the population size for 1993, the year of the survey. The sampling interval at the level of the household was determined in the following way: Based on the decision to have a take of 125 individuals on average per cluster (i.e. assuming 5 members per household to give an average cluster size of 25 households), the interval of households to be selected was determined as the census population divided by 118.1, i.e. allowing for population growth since the census. It was subsequently discovered that population growth was slightly over-estimated, but this had little effect on the findings of the survey. Individuals in hospitals, old age homes, hotels and hostels of educational institutions were not included in the sample. Migrant labour hostels were included. In addition to those that turned up in the selected ESDs, a sample of three hostels was chosen from a national list provided by the Human Sciences Research Council and within each of these hostels a representative sample was drawn on a similar basis as described above for the households in ESDs.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Cleaning operations

All the questionnaires were checked when received. Where information was incomplete or appeared contradictory, the questionnaire was sent back to the relevant survey organization. As soon as the data was available, it was captured using local development platform ADE. This was completed in February 1994. Following this, a series of exploratory programs were written to highlight inconsistencies and outlier. For example, all person level files were linked together to ensure that the same person code reported in different sections of the questionnaire corresponded to the same person. The error reports from these programs were compared to the questionnaires and the necessary alterations made. This was a lengthy process, as several files were checked more than once, and completed at the beginning of August 1994. In some cases, questionnaires would contain missing values, or comments that the respondent did not know, or refused to answer a question. These responses are coded in the data files with the following values:

VALUE MEANING -1 : The data was not available on the questionnaire or form -2 : The field is not applicable -3 : Respondent refused to answer -4 : Respondent did not know answer to question

Data appraisal

The data collected in clusters 217 and 218 should be viewed as highly unreliable and therefore removed from the data set. The data currently available on the web site has been revised to remove the data from these clusters. Researchers who have downloaded the data in the past should revise their data sets. For information on the data in those clusters, contact SALDRU http://www.saldru.uct.ac.za/.

Although South Africa is the global epicenter of the HIV epidemic, the uptake of HIV testing and treatment among young people remains low. Concerns about confidentiality impede the utilization of HIV prevention services, which signals the need for discrete HIV prevention measures that leverage youth-friendly platforms. This paper describes the process of developing a youth-friendly internet-enabled HIV risk calculator in collaboration with young people, including young key populations aged between 18 and 24 years old. Using qualitative research, we conducted an exploratory study with 40 young people including young key population (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) individuals, men who have sex with men (MSM), and female sex workers). Eligible participants were young people aged between 18–24 years old and living in Soweto. Data was collected through two peer group discussions with young people aged 18–24 years, a once-off group discussion with the [Name of clinic removed for confidentiality] adolescent community advisory board members and once off face-to-face in-depth interviews with young key population groups: LGBT individuals, MSM, and female sex workers. LGBT individuals are identified as key populations because they face increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and other health risks due to societal stigma, discrimination, and obstacles in accessing healthcare and support services. The measures used to collect data included a socio-demographic questionnaire, a questionnaire on mobile phone usage, an HIV and STI risk assessment questionnaire, and a semi-structured interview guide. Framework analysis was used to analyse qualitative data through a qualitative data analysis software called NVivo. Descriptive statistics were summarized using SPSS for participant socio-demographics and mobile phone usage. Of the 40 enrolled participants, 58% were male, the median age was 20 (interquartile range 19–22.75), and 86% had access to the internet. Participants’ recommendations were considered in developing the HIV risk calculator. They indicated a preference for an easy-to-use, interactive, real-time assessment offering discrete and private means to self-assess HIV risk. In addition to providing feedback on the language and wording of the risk assessment tool, participants recommended creating a colorful, interactive and informational app. A collaborative and user-driven process is crucial for designing and developing HIV prevention tools for targeted groups. Participants emphasized that privacy, confidentiality, and ease of use contribute to the acceptability and willingness to use internet-enabled HIV prevention methods.