Eighty20 - FAD ratings

FAD Ratings.
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 All time 30 days Worst facts

Best of 2005

1. Rating: 3.77 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)

2. Rating: 3.69 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)

3. Rating: 3.55 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)

4. Rating: 3.55 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)

5. Rating: 3.44 Women and work

33% of people who invest on the JSE are women (AMPS2004) (2005-11-07)

6. Rating: 3.43 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: 3.27 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)

8. Rating: 3.08 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)

9. Rating: 3.08 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)

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)

Best of 2006

1. Rating: 3.96 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: 3.95 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: 3.89 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)

4. Rating: 3.86 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)

5. Rating: 3.85 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)

6. Rating: 3.85 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)

7. Rating: 3.82 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)

8. Rating: 3.80 A tax on the stupid

42% of men and 27% of women have bought lottery tickets in the past 4 weeks. (AMPS2006A) (2006-09-29)

9. Rating: 3.73 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)

10. Rating: 3.67 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)

Best of 2007

1. Rating: 4.21 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: 4.07 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: 4.03 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)

5. Rating: 4.01 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)

6. 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)

7. Rating: 4.00 More for yourself

The average earnings of a Cell C subscriber is about R3,200 per month, higher than those of MTN and Vodacom (AMPS2006A) (2007-04-03)

8. Rating: 3.98 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)

9. Rating: 3.91 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)

10. Rating: 3.86 2 out of 3

There are 4 million economically active South Africans aged 15 to 24. 2.6 million (64%) of them are unemployed (using the expanded definition of unemployment). (LFS 2006) (2007-11-13)

Best of 2008

1. Rating: 4.12 Home alone

28% of women (16+) are single parents. Of this segment, 50% are unemployed (AMPS2007) (2008-02-05)

2. Rating: 4.08 'Hello' the future

68% of African language speakers would prefer their children to be educated in English (FutureFact 2007) (2008-06-17)

3. Rating: 4.07 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)

4. Rating: 4.07 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)

5. Rating: 4.01 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: 4.00 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: 4.00 Not even One Time

85% of South African adults have never travelled by air inside SA. 93% have never travelled by air outside SA. (AMPS2008A) (2008-12-10)

8. Rating: 3.97 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)

9. Rating: 3.97 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)

10. Rating: 3.94 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)

Best of 2009

1. Rating: 4.29 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)

2. Rating: 4.26 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)

3. Rating: 4.21 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)

4. Rating: 4.20 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)

5. Rating: 4.19 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)

6. Rating: 4.17 Bank on it

Banking penetration in South Africa has increased from 45% of the adult population in 2004 to 63% in 2008. (FinScope, various years) (2009-10-05)

7. Rating: 4.14 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)

8. Rating: 4.10 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)

9. Rating: 4.10 Often orphan

The estimated number of orphans aged 0 to 17 in South Africa due to AIDS is 1.4 million. (Epidemiological Fact Sheet on HIV/AIDS 2008) (2009-05-07)

10. Rating: 4.09 me2u

5.9 million adults send SMS's on a daily basis. 9.5 million send a 'please call me' message, and 0.6 million send MMS's (AMPS2008B RA) (2009-06-10)

Best of 2010

1. Rating: 4.28 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)

2. Rating: 4.26 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)

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: 4.10 Going down, looking up?

The number of murders in South Africa has declined by 30% from 1994/5 to 2008/9, and the murder rate per 100,000 people has declined by 44%. (SAIRR, Press Release 2/12/2009) (2010-01-25)

5. Rating: 4.00 Minerals are expensive

10,000 litres of drinking water supplied to a house/flat by the Cape Town municipality will cost R16.69, or one sixth of a cent per litre. At Pick 'n Pay, the price of still mineral water ranges from R2.40 per litre (Nestle Pure Life Still Mineral Water 5L) to R30.65 per litre (Evian Rebirth Mineral Water 750ml). (www.pnponline.co.za & City of Cape Town municipal account) (2010-02-05)

6. Rating: 4.00 Water works

82% of the South African population have access to free basic water services. This is expected to increase to 95% in 2010/11 and to 100% by 2011/12. (National Budget 2009) (2010-01-21)

7. Rating: 4.00 Civilian (un)rest

The national police to population ratio is 1:341 (1 police officer for every 341 citizens). The provinces with the lowest and highest are Limpopo at 1:520 and Northern Cape at 1:195. (www.saps.gov.za) (2010-01-26)

8. Rating: 3.92 Where are our children?

There are 13.7 million children in South Africa aged 6 to 18. 6% are not currently attending an educational institution. (GHS 2008) (2010-01-13)

9. Rating: 3.89 Expecting

There are 42,000 girls aged 13 to 18 who do not attend school because they are pregnant. (GHS 2008) (2010-01-15)

10. Rating: 3.88 I know I shouldn't ...

37% of men admit to smoking a cigarette on a daily basis. For women the proportion is 10%. (AMPS2009A) (2010-01-18)

All time best facts

1. Rating: 4.29 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)

2. Rating: 4.28 Market forces?

3. Rating: 4.26 Truly Budget

4. Rating: 4.26 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)

5. Rating: 4.21 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: 4.21 Coughing up

7. Rating: 4.20 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)

8. Rating: 4.19 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)

9. Rating: 4.17 Bank on it

Banking penetration in South Africa has increased from 45% of the adult population in 2004 to 63% in 2008. (FinScope, various years) (2009-10-05)

10. 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)

All time worst facts

1. Rating: 1.85 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: 1.92 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)

3. Rating: 1.97 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)

4. Rating: 2.10 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)

5. Rating: 2.11 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)

6. Rating: 2.12 Recipe for success

14.6% of women bake for pleasure. (Source: AMPS2007B) (2008-08-07)

7. Rating: 2.24 A Loan from your uncle

16% of households have an outstanding loan from a furniture retailer in 2006, up from 9% in 2000. (IES 2005/6, 2000) (2008-08-15)

8. Rating: 2.24 What are you saving for

The highest correlation score of financial products for Chesterfield cigarette smokers was a retirement annuity product; the actual proportion was 19% compared to 6% for all adults. (Source: AMPS2007B) (2008-07-18)

9. Rating: 2.30 We're hot

The forecast maximum temperatures for Cape Town for Monday to Thursday this week are 23, 27, 25 and 22 degrees Celsius respectively. For London they are 11, 8, 5 and 8. (BBC Weather Service, 2008-10-26) (2008-10-27)

10. Rating: 2.36 Books at a steal

A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited about Obama and Why He Can't Win by Shelby Steele (hardcover) sells for $14.96 (R150 at current exchange rates) on Amazon and R278.30 on Kalahari. (2008-11-11)

Best of last 30 days