Pretoria: Household access to improved water, sanitation, and electricity has improved significantly over the past 23 years, according to Statistics South Africa's 2025 General Household Survey. The survey, conducted annually since 2002, tracks development progress and highlights persistent service-delivery gaps across South Africa.
According to South African Government News Agency, access to improved sanitation, such as flush toilets and pit toilets with ventilation pipes, increased from 61.7% in 2002 to 84.0% in 2025. The largest increases were observed in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, with 54.6 and 37.9 percentage points, respectively. An estimated 16.8% of households used pit toilets with ventilation pipes, up from 4.4% in 2002, while pit latrines without ventilation pipes decreased by 12.4 percentage points to 13.0% in 2025.
Electricity access rose from 76.7% in 2002 to 90.6% in 2025, with a reduced reliance on traditional fuels. However, wood use remains relatively high in some provinces, particularly Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Access to refuse removal services highlights ongoing inequality, as 84.9% of urban households received regular services, compared to only 13.0% of rural households. Consequently, a large majority of households reported burning waste, and recycling practices remain limited, with only 10.5% of households separating recyclable material.
Access to the internet continues to expand rapidly, with 85.6% of households having access to any kind of internet in 2025. In contrast, traditional mail services continue to decline, with 67.4% of households reporting no access to postal services. Families remain central to child development; however, living arrangements vary considerably. In 2025, fewer than one-third of children lived with both biological parents, while nearly half resided with their mothers only. A notable 18.5% of children lived with neither parent, and 11.2% experienced orphanhood. Single-person households accounted for 26.6% of all households, while nuclear households made up 38.9%. Female-headed households remained significant at 42.6%, particularly in rural areas where the proportion rose to 47.6%.
Participation in early childhood development (ECD) programmes remained uneven, with only 36.3% of children aged 0-4 having attended ECD facilities, while more than half were cared for at home. Stats SA added that school attendance was nearly universal until age 15, when it increased to 97.1%; however, delayed progression persists, with 8.8% of 21-year-olds still enrolled in secondary school. The report shows that educational attainment continues to improve, with the proportion of adults with no education declining significantly from 11.4% in 2002 to 2.6% in 2025. Meanwhile, the share of those with at least a National Senior Certificate increased from 30.7% to 53.5%. No-fee schools remained a cornerstone of access, serving 65.1% of learners nationally, although provincial disparities remain pronounced.
Medical aid coverage remained relatively unchanged at 15.5%, highlighting persistent inequities in access to private healthcare. Coverage was highest in the Western Cape and Gauteng and lowest in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. Black African individuals comprised the majority of medical aid beneficiaries. The GHS report revealed that by 2025, grants reached 39.5% of individuals and 50.6% of households, with nearly one-quarter relying on them as their main income source. Salaries and wages remained the primary income source for 54.3% of households, though this varied widely across provinces. Just over one fifth of households considered their access to food as inadequate or severely inadequate, 4.2 percentage points higher than in 2019 before the outbreak of COVID-19. The need was most common in Northern Cape and least common in Limpopo.
