POPULATION

Recent updates by the Department of Water affairs and Forestry indicate that the population is 61625 with 0.58 annual population growth percentages.  According to the 2001 Census, there were 56207 people and 13391 households in Delmas Local Municipality.  The average household is 4,2 people per household which is slightly lower than that of that of the Mpumalanga province which is 4,3 persons per household.

EDUCATION

Victor Khanye Local Municipality has a lower education level compared to education level compared to Mpumalanga province.

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25,9% of the population reported to have no formal schooling, compared to 27,5% of Mpumalanga.
14% passed Matric (Grade 12) compared to 18,2% in Mpumalanga.
4,8% (1540 people) possessed some higher qualification than matric, compared to 5,9% in Mpumalanga
27,1% did not pass matric, but have some secondary education.  This is higher than that of Mpumalanga (26,6%)

The fact that approximately 34,7% of the population did not attend an educational institution leads to a generation of illiterate young people and unemployment in future.

EMPLOYMENT

Approximately 41% of the Delmas population was economically active, with 23,5% being unemployed.  76,5% of the economically active population is unemployed , implying that the dependency and unemployment rate are very high.

The average income per household is R2286.61 per month and 21,9% of the households reported to have no income.  The majority of the people (48,4%) earn less than R800, which is considered as living below the poverty line.  23,4% earn between R801 and R1600, with only 28,1% earning more that R1600 per month.  The relatively low-income levels are an indication of high poverty  level and an increase in the dependency on social assistance e.g. housing subsidies and child grants.

HOUSING

The majority of the population (58,7%) reside in a house or brick structure on a separate stand or yard, followed by 29% in informal dwellings and 8,7% in traditional structures.  The number of informal dwelling/shacks in the informal or squatter settlements changed slightly from 24,5% to 25%.

Statistics from: Environmentally integrated & ecologically sensitive site master planning, facilities & landscape planning.