Statistics South Africa will publish the 2026 National Poverty Lines on Wednesday, August 26.
These rand thresholds measure money-metric poverty in South Africa. But these lines are built to track survival, not a comfortable life.
The most recent measured poverty rate, from Stats SA’s Poverty Trends report, released in December 2025, found that 37.9% of South Africa’s population was living below the Lower-Bound Poverty Line in 2023.
Below this line, people cannot afford both food and essential non-food items and are forced to sacrifice one to cover the other.
