A large proportion of South Africa’s poorest population is covered by social protection. Social assistance transfers in South Africa are relatively generous and strongly supportive of consumption amongst the poorest quintile. According to the World Bank, the value of such transfers is relatively high in terms of beneficiaries’ expenditure (referred to as adequacy). South Africa’s social assistance also significantly reduces poverty levels for the total population, achieved at a relatively favourable benefit-to-cost ratio by international standards. Note that these estimates are higher than would be obtained using South Africa’s Living Conditions Survey, but these are based on a common cross-country methodology and so ensures comparable global estimates.
