South African Child Gauge 2018

An understanding of the South African Child Gauge helps GAGA UK to assess where donations can be most effective.  As our experience, network and the majority of our current partner organisations are in KwaZulu Natal and the child gauge continues to report that province as having one of the greatest share of children per capita and is one of the highest provinces that is home to double orphans, GAGA UK continues to focus our efforts in this province.

The South African Child Gauge® is an annual publication of the Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town. It aims to report on and monitor the situation of children in South Africa, in particularly the realisation of their rights. The publication focuses on a different theme each year.  In 2018 the focus is Children, Families and the State.

In mid-2017, South Africa’s total population was estimated at
56.5 million people, of whom 19.6 million were children under 18
years. Children therefore make up 35% of the total population.
The distribution of children across provinces is slightly
different to that of adults, with a greater share of children living
in provinces with large rural populations. Together, KwaZuluNatal, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo accommodate almost half
of all children in South Africa.

An orphan is defined as a child under the age of 18 years whose
mother, father or both biological parents have died (including
those whose living status is reported as unknown, but excluding
those whose living status is unspecified). For the purpose of
this indicator, orphans are defined in three mutually exclusive
categories:
• A maternal orphan is a child whose mother has died but
whose father is alive.
• A paternal orphan is a child whose father has died but whose
mother is alive.
• A double orphan is a child whose mother and father have
both died.

Orphaning rates are particularly high in provinces that contain the former homelands, as these areas bear a large burden of care for orphaned children. Fifty-four percent of double orphans live in either the Eastern
Cape, KwaZulu-Natal or Limpopo provinces.

South African Child Gauge 2018