Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences: Home

Abstract:
Accurate statistics are essential for proper planning. Policy makers are able to know what is lacking, critical and needed to be provided with urgency. During the apartheid era in South Africa, accurate data were not very important for the African population because of political reasons. And not much data have been collected since the demise of apartheid. This paper seeks to fill some gaps in data availability. It aims also to determine levels of some social indicators in the Vhembe district using a survey that was conducted in five locations in the district. Based on the 2663 women interviewed, the survey data give the following statistics: the average number of persons in a house/dwelling is 5.5, the mean number of females per house is 3.2, the mean number of children per woman is 2.5; the mean age to start cohabitation with a male partner is 19.9 years, and the mean birthing age is 20 years. About 98 percent of the women interviewed knew about vital registration, 97.5 percent had registered births, and 99.1 percent had obtained birth certificates. About 96 percent of births took place in hospital/clinics; the illiteracy rate is 31 percent for females and 19 percent for males.

Keywords: essential, proper planning, policy-makers, data availability, social indicators.

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