2005
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All time
30 days
Worst facts
1. Rating: 3.71 Confidence in politicians
99% of black South Africans have at least some confidence in Nelson Mandela, compared to 92% for whites. Thabo Mbeki is not as highly regarded as Nelson Mandela (blacks 95%, whites 71%). Tony Leon is not as popular with the black population (only 25% have at least some confidence in Tony Leon, versus whites at 81%). (FutureFact 2004) (2005-10-19)
2. Rating: 3.71 Women heading households
24% of South African households are headed up by women. For the Black population more than 40% of households are headed up by women. (StatsSA 'Women and Men in South Africa', 2002) (2005-11-08)
3. Rating: 3.69 Number of cell phone users
There are 10.2 million adults who own cell phones in South Africa (33%). 85% of these are pre-paid (AMPS2004) (2005-10-10)
4. Rating: 3.56 Total population of South Africa
The total population of South Africa at September 2004 was 46.5 million (up from 44.8 million in 2001). 36.8 million are black, 4.4 million white, 4.12 million coloured and 1.2 million Indian/Asian (Labour Force Survey 2004, Census 2001) (2005-09-26)
5. Rating: 3.50 Women and work
33% of people who invest on the JSE are women (AMPS2004) (2005-11-07)
6. Rating: 3.35 High income earners by race
While one quarter of high income earners (defined as earning more than R6,000 per month) were black in 2001, almost one third of high income earners were black in 2004 (Labour Force Survey 2004) (2005-11-14)
7. Rating: 3.20 Self-employment
There are almost 1.9 million self-employed people in South Africa. 68% work in the informal sector (Labour Force Survey 2004) (2005-10-27)
8. Rating: 3.07 Cell phone usage
According to AMPS2005 41% of adults in South Africa use a cell phone. On average, people spend 3% of their incomes on cell phones. (AMPS) (2005-11-30)
9. Rating: 3.00 Cell phone spend
The average monthly spend on pre-paid cell phones is approximately R95. Contract subscribers spend an average of R390 per month (AMPS2004) (2005-10-11)
10. Rating: 3.00 Payment for homes
39% of home owners inherited their homes. 15% said that someone else paid, and 12% used mortgage bond finance. Other responses were: with money saved, with a government grant, proceeds from sale of another property. (Finscope 2005) (2005-11-04)
1. Rating: 3.94 She's all that
There is no statistically significant difference in happiness between single men and single women, but married women are statistically happier than married men. (Source: The Eighty20 Spring Happiness Checkup) (2006-10-27)
2. Rating: 3.85 Modern day slavery…
Of the estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people trafficked across international borders each year, approximately 80 percent are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors. Most of these are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. (U.S. State Department) (2006-11-08)
3. Rating: 3.83 Happily ever after?
Marital status has a statistically significant effect on happiness, with widows/widowers and married people happiest. (Source: The Eighty20 Spring Happiness Checkup) (2006-10-23)
4. Rating: 3.83 English at home
82% of South Africa's new black middle class have kids who speak English fluently at home. (Black Diamond 2006) (2006-02-23)
5. Rating: 3.79 PS: did you know this?
The most popular chocolate bar in South Africa is Cadbury's P.S., with 14% of adults having had one in the past seven days. Lunch Bar and Kit-Kat are close behind. (AMPS2006A) (2006-10-09)
6. Rating: 3.75 Newspaper readership by household income
The average monthly household income of Business Day readers is over R18,000. For the Mail and Guardian, it is a little over R14,000. All other newspapers have lower average monthly household incomes. (AMPS2005A) (2006-01-25)
7. Rating: 3.73 Who did you vote for?
Lie, damned lie, or statistic? Roughly one third of children under the age of 15 live with both their parents. (2006-03-31)
8. Rating: 3.73 Time to focus on quality
The proportion of South African adults with a matric has increased from 25% in 1996 to 35% in 2006. The proportion of adults with no schooling has halved to 6% over the same period. (AMPS2006A) (2006-09-26)
9. Rating: 3.58 All connected?
Lie, damned lie, or statistic? Roughly two thirds of adults in South Africa have access to either a cell phone or a land line at home, or both. (2006-03-30)
10. Rating: 3.57 Legislation and the environment
More South Africans feel laws to protect the environment are a good idea (92%), than think the Constitution of South Africa is a good idea (83%). (FutureFact2004) (2006-06-08)
1. Rating: 4.22 Coughing up
There are 7.2 million smokers in South Africa, smoking a total of over 60 million cigarettes per day. At an additional tax of 60c per pack, this will bring in another R1.9 million in tax revenue every day. (AMPS2006A, 2007 Budget) (2007-02-26)
2. Rating: 4.15 Talking it up. Shareholders too
About R260 million is spent on cell phone expenses each month by people with a monthly household income of R1,600 or less. (AMPS2006A) (2007-03-29)
3. Rating: 4.05 A woman needs a (jobless) man like a fish needs a bicycle
50% of women in South Africa with babies under the age of 2 are single (never married and not living together) (AMPS2006A) (2007-07-09)
4. Rating: 4.00 Who's a chatterbox?
The average monthly cellphone bill is about R178 for men, almost 46% higher than that of women. (AMPS2006A) (2007-04-04)
5. Rating: 4.00 Gospel generation
57% of South Africans between the ages of 20 and 24 listen to gospel music. For older South Africans, the figure is 63%. (AMPS2006A) (2007-06-27)
6. Rating: 4.00 Stop AIDS; Keep the Promise
Average life expectancy in South Africa is now 54 years - without AIDS, it is estimated that it would be 64. Over half of 15 year olds are not expected to reach the age of 60. (http://www.avert.org) (2007-11-30)
7. Rating: 3.93 Knowing me, knowing you
Of sexually active South African youths, 6% say they have had unprotected sex with someone they think is HIV positive. A further 15% are unsure. (Source: Young South Africans, Broadcast Media, and HIV/AIDS Awareness, Kaiser Family Foundation and SABC, 2006) (2007-04-18)
8. Rating: 3.90 A striking result
The average earnings of government workers in the community, social and personal services industries (89% of the workers) is around R5,800 per month. For private sector workers in those industries it is about R4,900. (Labour Force Survey 2006) (2007-06-08)
9. Rating: 3.86 Home alone
23% of black married women do not live in the same household as their spouse. For white married women, the proportion is under 2%. (LFS 2006) (2007-07-13)
10. Rating: 3.85 Maybe next year
86% of South African adults did not go on holiday in the past 12 months. (AMPS2006A) (2007-01-15)
1. Rating: 4.11 Home alone
28% of women (16+) are single parents. Of this segment, 50% are unemployed (AMPS2007) (2008-02-05)
2. Rating: 4.10 Taking care of the future
The proportion of South African children under the age of 5 attending a pre-school increased from 7.6% in 2002 to 16.6% in 2007 (GHS 2007) (2008-11-04)
3. Rating: 4.05 'Hello' the future
68% of African language speakers would prefer their children to be educated in English (FutureFact 2007) (2008-06-17)
4. Rating: 4.00 Just coping fine
72% of the population purport to possibly vote for a viable opposition if there was one (66% of blacks). This was pre the existence of Cope. (FutureFact 2008) (2008-12-01)
5. Rating: 3.98 Tito'ing on the edge
The prime interest rate has increased from 11% to 15.5% in past two years (June 2006 to June 2008). The monthly installment for a R500,000 bond taken in June 2006 would have increased from R5,161 to R6,724 over the same period – an increase of 30%. (SARB) (2008-06-26)
6. Rating: 3.98 Silent crime
A third of people who had something stolen from them did not report this crime to the police. (FutureFact 2008) (2008-11-26)
7. Rating: 3.94 The fairer sex?
79% of South African men agree with the statement 'The death penalty should be reinstated in South Africa for serious crimes like murder and rape'. 83% of women also agree. (AMPS2008A) (2008-10-03)
8. Rating: 3.92 WWWOW
2.4 million South African adults accessed the internet in the past 7 days, an increase of 30% over a year ago. (AMPS2007, 2008) (2008-09-22)
9. Rating: 3.91 Stay home
81% of urban South Africans agree with the statement 'South Africa should severely limit immigration into the country from troubled African countries.' (FutureFact 2007) (2008-05-20)
10. Rating: 3.87 Please sir, I want some more
The proportion of South African children suffering from hunger (defined as often or always hungry in past 12 months) decreased from 6.7% in 2002 to 2.0% in 2007. (GHS 2007) (2008-11-03)
1. Rating: 4.28 Clear-cut?
South Africa ranks second in the world (tying with France) in terms of budget transparency, behind only the United Kingdom. (Open Budget Index 2008) (2009-07-21)
2. Rating: 4.23 Sick statistics
Sub-Saharan Africa has 24% of the worldwide disease burden, yet it has only 3% of the world's health workers. (The DATA Report 2008) (2009-03-12)
3. Rating: 4.15 Friendly reminder
Leaving the car windows open while driving creates a drag that increases fuel consumption by as much as 20 percent. (Department of Minerals and Energy website) (2009-12-11)
4. Rating: 4.15 Double story
Over the period 1997-2008, house prices in South Africa increased by 389%. In Australia, the figure is 163%. (www.economist.com) (2009-04-09)
5. Rating: 4.15 1994 vs 2009
81% of South African adults voted in the 1994 national elections. For the 2009 elections the figure is roughly 59%. (StatsSA, IEC) (2009-04-28)
6. Rating: 4.11 Growwwth
There are currently 4.6 million Internet users in South Africa; this represents 91% growth since 2000. (Internet World Stats, March 2009) (2009-06-22)
7. Rating: 4.11 For the love of the game
82% of South Africa’s urban adults agree with the statement ‘South African sports teams should be selected only on merit and ability – not by racial quotas’. (Future Fact 2008) (2009-11-03)
8. Rating: 4.11 Black or white
66% of urban black South Africans agree with the statement 'I would accept it if my child married someone from another racial or cultural group'. For urban whites the proportion is 44%. (Future Fact 2008) (2009-06-29)
9. Rating: 4.08 Pumping
On 7 January 2009, the price of petrol dropped by 134c – 137c a litre, depending on the grade. This comes on top of a 161c cut in December and a 45c cut in November 2008. All in all, to fill up a 60 litre tank will cost about R200 less in January 2009 than it did in early November 2008. (The Times, The Wheel Deal, 3 January 2009) (2009-01-12)
10. Rating: 4.04 Every second counts II
76% of urban adults who do not receive an income say they personally own, rent or have use of a cellphone. (FutureFact 2008) (2009-06-09)
1. Rating: 4.24 Powerful nation
On average, each South African uses almost 5,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per annum. Algeria's average is 900kWh, and citizens of Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana use under 300kWh on average (World Bank, http://bit.ly/92M7iQ) (2010-06-22)
2. Rating: 4.20 Market forces?
Superfreakonmics, the best-selling book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (ISBN 978-0-06-088957-9) would cost you R225 at Loot.co.za, R289 at kalahari.net and R422 at Exclusive Books. If you lived in the US, you could purchase it at Amazon for $13.96, roughly R105. (Company websites). (2010-02-02)
3. Rating: 4.13 Collusion?
The cost of the cheapest one-way economy class flight from Cape Town to Joburg on the 9th of July 2010 (just before the World Cup final) is R769 on Kulula, R882 on SAA, R1263 on Mango, R2299 on 1Time and R4929 on BA. (Airline websites, 31 Jan 2010). (2010-02-01)
4. Rating: 4.12 Every man, woman and child?
MTN's South African subscriber base is 16.4 million, Vodacom claims 27.1 million customers, and Cell C has roughly 6.5 million. This brings the total claimed South African cell phone subscriber base to 50 million, more than the total population of South Africa, 49.1 million. (mtn-investor.com, Vodacom News Release 2 Feb 2010, www.ogertelecom.com, LFS 2009Q3) (2010-02-15)
5. Rating: 4.12 Truly Budget
At Europcar, a group C rental car (VW Polo, Toyota Corolla or similar) would cost you R743 for this coming weekend, February 6th to 8th. On the weekend of the World Cup finals (July 10th to 12th), the same car would cost you R1369. At Budget, the costs would be R600, for either weekend. (Company websites) (2010-02-03)
6. Rating: 4.11 Too high
The prevalence of HIV in South Africa is 181 per 1,000 adults aged 15-49 years. The African average is 49 per 1,000 and the global average is 8 per 1,000. (World Health Organization) (2010-09-10)
7. Rating: 4.05 Talk is cheap
62% of South African adults with a per capita income of less than R5 per day personally own, rent or have use of a cellphone. (AMPS2009B RA) (2010-05-07)
8. Rating: 4.04 The good old days, still
South Africa's current mobile interconnect rate is 125c per minute, to be reduced to 89c from 1 March 2010. In 1994, it was 20c, worth about 50c in today's terms. (mybroadband.co.za, StatsSA) (2010-02-17)
9. Rating: 4.04 Looking for work?
The official unemployment rate in South Africa is 25.3%. In Brazil the rate is 6.2%, Russia 6.6%, India 10.7% and China 9.6% (The Economist) (2010-11-15)
10. Rating: 4.00 That's not AYOBA!
MTN's South African subscriber base was 16.1 million at the end of 2009. MTN, an official World Cup sponsor, has bought exclusive rights to network coverage within a 800 metre radius around each stadium during the World Cup. Subscribers to other cell phone networks will not be able to make or receive calls within this exclusion zone. (MTN Group Press Release March 2010, TUWC News, (2010-04-01)
1. Rating: 4.54 Higher
Walmart's revenue of US$422 billion for 2010 (year to January 2011) was 16% higher than South Africa's GDP of US$364 billion for 2010. (http://cnnmon.ie/ul0yxJ, http://bit.ly/sE6IBu) (2011-11-16)
2. Rating: 4.34 Water Hazard
The 9.46 billion litres of water that are used to water the world’s golf courses every day would be able to sustain almost 70% (4.7 billion people) of the world’s population at the UN daily minimum. (www.waterinfo.org) (2011-06-29)
3. Rating: 4.19 Taxing times
In 2010/11 SARS collected approximately R226.93 billion in taxes from individuals. In 2010, the tax rate on the highest earning individuals in South Africa was 40%, for the Netherlands it was 52% and in Switzerland it was 13.2%. (www.oecd.org,www.sars.gov.za) (2011-08-05)
4. Rating: 4.17 Big five. Four?
13 rhinos were illegally killed in South Africa during 2007, 83 during 2008, 122 during 2009 and 333 in 2010. As at 7 April 2011, 82 rhinos have been illegally killed in South Africa during 2011. (http://www.rhinoconservation.org/) (2011-04-13)
5. Rating: 4.15 DA future
The following wards in Johannesburg are now controlled by the DA (previously ANC): Ward 96 (Diepsloot), ward 17 (Eldorado Park and Kliptown), ward 32 (Alexandra Far East Bank, Greenstone and Buccleuch), ward 7 (Lenasia South and Ennerdale), ward 9 (Lenasia) and ward 58 (Fordsburg) (http://bit.ly/jYxjxb) (2011-05-20)
6. Rating: 4.10 Help
The number of social grant recipients increased from 2.6 million in 1997 to 14.1 million in 2010. (South African Social Security Agency) (2011-06-08)
7. Rating: 4.09 Come and gone
The 2011 birth rate in South Africa is estimated to be 19.5 births/1,000 people, whereas the 2011 death rate is expected to be 17.0 deaths/1,000 people. Compared to the world, these are ranked 92nd and 3rd respectively. (http://1.usa.gov/e7rDnu, http://1.usa.gov/fPgkQZ) (2011-04-28)
8. Rating: 4.07 Few but deadly
Although Africa only has 2% of the world's registered vehicles, it accounts for almost 20% of road traffic deaths. (Status Report on Road Safety in Countries of the WHO African Region, 2009) (2011-06-13)
9. Rating: 4.03 Can only get better
South Africa is rated 138th out of 142 countries with regards to the quality of maths and science education (Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12) (2011-10-13)
10. Rating: 4.03 Talking c..p
More adults in SA have cell phones than flush toilets (According to AMPS2010 25.1 million adults (15+) personally own, rent or have use of a cellphone. 20.7 million have a flush toilet in the homes or on their properties.) (2011-02-28)
1. Rating: 4.54 Higher
Walmart's revenue of US$422 billion for 2010 (year to January 2011) was 16% higher than South Africa's GDP of US$364 billion for 2010. (http://cnnmon.ie/ul0yxJ, http://bit.ly/sE6IBu) (2011-11-16)
2. Rating: 4.34 Water Hazard
The 9.46 billion litres of water that are used to water the world’s golf courses every day would be able to sustain almost 70% (4.7 billion people) of the world’s population at the UN daily minimum. (www.waterinfo.org) (2011-06-29)
3. Rating: 4.28 Clear-cut?
South Africa ranks second in the world (tying with France) in terms of budget transparency, behind only the United Kingdom. (Open Budget Index 2008) (2009-07-21)
4. Rating: 4.24 Powerful nation
On average, each South African uses almost 5,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per annum. Algeria's average is 900kWh, and citizens of Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana use under 300kWh on average (World Bank, http://bit.ly/92M7iQ) (2010-06-22)
5. Rating: 4.23 Sick statistics
Sub-Saharan Africa has 24% of the worldwide disease burden, yet it has only 3% of the world's health workers. (The DATA Report 2008) (2009-03-12)
6. Rating: 4.22 Coughing up
There are 7.2 million smokers in South Africa, smoking a total of over 60 million cigarettes per day. At an additional tax of 60c per pack, this will bring in another R1.9 million in tax revenue every day. (AMPS2006A, 2007 Budget) (2007-02-26)
7. Rating: 4.20 Market forces?
Superfreakonmics, the best-selling book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (ISBN 978-0-06-088957-9) would cost you R225 at Loot.co.za, R289 at kalahari.net and R422 at Exclusive Books. If you lived in the US, you could purchase it at Amazon for $13.96, roughly R105. (Company websites). (2010-02-02)
8. Rating: 4.19 Taxing times
In 2010/11 SARS collected approximately R226.93 billion in taxes from individuals. In 2010, the tax rate on the highest earning individuals in South Africa was 40%, for the Netherlands it was 52% and in Switzerland it was 13.2%. (www.oecd.org,www.sars.gov.za) (2011-08-05)
9. Rating: 4.17 Big five. Four?
13 rhinos were illegally killed in South Africa during 2007, 83 during 2008, 122 during 2009 and 333 in 2010. As at 7 April 2011, 82 rhinos have been illegally killed in South Africa during 2011. (http://www.rhinoconservation.org/) (2011-04-13)
10. Rating: 4.15 DA future
The following wards in Johannesburg are now controlled by the DA (previously ANC): Ward 96 (Diepsloot), ward 17 (Eldorado Park and Kliptown), ward 32 (Alexandra Far East Bank, Greenstone and Buccleuch), ward 7 (Lenasia South and Ennerdale), ward 9 (Lenasia) and ward 58 (Fordsburg) (http://bit.ly/jYxjxb) (2011-05-20)
1. Rating: 2.00 Neither high nor low
South Africa's Rigidity of employment index (0 least rigid to 100 most rigid), in 2006 was 41. Lowest was Uganda at 7, and joint highest were Guinea-Bissau and Niger, at 77 each. (African Development Indicators, 2007, World Bank) (2007-12-05)
2. Rating: 2.00 A secondary countdown
At 2pm today, April 16th, there will be exactly 4,838,400 seconds to kick-off! (The Eighty20 Predictor) (2010-04-16)
3. Rating: 2.03 5/10
327,000 adults say that they have participated in gymnastics in the past 12 months. The majority, 54%, are male (NB. The gender split across the total adult population is 50/50). (AMPS2007B RA) (2008-07-29)
4. Rating: 2.07 Guilty free pleasure
8% of people in LSM 4-7 who do not attend the gym/health club at all buy food from a fast food outlet more than once a week. 21% of people in LSM 4-7 who attend a gym/health club weekly buy food from a fast food outlet.(AMPS2007B) (2008-04-22)
5. Rating: 2.12 Life after death
53% of single people identify with people who go to lots of parties. For married people the proportion is 41%, and 45% for widowed people. (AMPS2007B) (2008-04-04)
6. Rating: 2.13 Petrol please
The strike in the petroleum sector is in its third week and has caused fuel supply problems across the country. Employers in the petroleum sector are offering an 8% increase while unions demand 9.5%. (http://bit.ly/oNcVbC) (2011-07-28)
7. Rating: 2.17 Howzat?
Over the period 1992 to 2010 South Africa and India have played 24 cricket test matches against each other. South Africa won 11 of them, lost 6, and drew the remaining 7. Of the 60 ODI's played, South Africa won 36. (www.cricinfo.com) (2010-10-13)
8. Rating: 2.23 Lookin' good
Are you a 25-34 year old South African man who speaks Zulu at home that likes to dress well? You are one of 819,651 people in this country! (AMPS2009A) (2009-11-19)
9. Rating: 2.23 Recipe for success
14.6% of women bake for pleasure. (Source: AMPS2007B) (2008-08-07)
10. Rating: 2.24 Ahead of the game
Primedia Lifestyle won 20 SACSC (South African Council of Shopping Centres) 2010 Footprint Awards. The remaining 30 awards were divided amongst 14 other companies. (http://bit.ly/bdIusN) (2010-11-12)
1. Rating: 3.88 You've got mail
In a speech at the 2004 World Economic Forum, Bill Gates was quoted as saying 'Two years from now, spam will be solved'. Today, spam accounts for over 70% of all emails sent. (bit.ly/xDkwnP, bit.ly/yJAgD2) (2012-02-03)
2. Rating: 3.36 WC on top
South Africa's matric pass rate in 2011 was 70.2%, up from 67.8% in 2010. The best-performing province was the Western Cape with a pass rate of 82.9% while the poorest performing was the Eastern Cape with 58.1%. (Report on the National Senior Certificate Examination 2011) (2012-01-17)
3. Rating: 3.34 1,000,000,000 Likes
Facebook will have one billion active users by August 2012. (bit.ly/xvpgaS) (2012-02-02)
4. Rating: 3.32 Demand
Globally, at least 2 million additional teachers are needed in order to achieve Universal Primary Education by 2015. 55% of these (1.115 million) are needed in sub-Saharan Africa. (UNESCO, 2011) (2012-01-25)
5. Rating: 3.25 NSC vs IEB
South Africa's matric pass rate in 2011 for the state-set National Senior Certificate was 70.2% while for those in private schools who wrote the Independent Examinations Board matric exams, the pass rate was 98.15%. (http://bit.ly/ws4NXU) (2012-01-16)
6. Rating: 3.11 Risks
According to the 2010 MRC Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, 65.4% of learners in South Africa reported being taught about HIV/AIDS at school. The province with the highest percentage was the Western Cape (81.9%) while Limpopo was the lowest (49.5%). (Education for All, South Africa Country Report, 2010) (2012-01-27)
7. Rating: 2.94 It's working
According to the National Development Plan 2011, the unemployment rate needs to fall from 27% in 2011 to 14% by 2020 and to 6% by 2030. This requires an additional 11 million jobs. (2012-02-01)
8. Rating: 2.92 Do the math
224,635 candidates wrote Mathematics as a matric subject in 2011 and 46.3% achieved a mark of 30% and above. 275,380 candidates wrote Mathematical Literacy where 85.9% achieved a mark of 30% and above. (Report on the National Senior Certificate Examination 2011) (2012-01-19)
9. Rating: 2.88 Fully charged
According to the National Development Plan 2011, the proportion of people with access to electricity must rise from 70% in 2010 to 95% by 2030. (2012-01-30)
10. Rating: 2.87 Repetition
According to an international comparative study, the level of repetition in primary schools in South Africa is high (7%) compared to the average level of repetition in primary schools in developing countries (5%) and developed countries (less than 1%). (Department of Basic Education 2011, http://bit.ly/xk3Zto) (2012-01-24)
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