Introduction

This indicator measures the poverty rate at the household level, using annual household income to measure the proportion of people whose living standards fall below the 'poverty line'. There are several ways to describe the poverty line, but basically the poverty line reflects the income level which separates the "poor" from the "non-poor". In South Africa there are two poverty levels, a household poverty level and an individual poverty level. For a household to be considered  poor in South Africa, the household income level must be below R800 per month and for an individual, the income level must be below R250 per person per month (Stats SA, 2000).

Assessment of Data

The graph below depicts the annual household income in the various district municipalities in Mpumalanga (MDB, 2002) and indicates that a large number of households in Mpumalanga earn an annual household income that is under R18 000, with Ehlanzeni District Municipality having the highest number of households in this income category, while Sekhukhune District Municipality has the highest number of households with no annual income. Furthermore, the result show that a considerable number of households income is unspecified.