Social inequality in living conditions, health, and quality of life in South Africa: Development policy challenges and prospects

Urban housing and living conditions, health and quality of life are important goals and indicators of development that are causally interrelated. These constitute social problems in the form of poor quality housing and infrastructure, limited access to health care, and unacceptable quality of life. This study describes apartheid based discrimination and segregation that affected South Africa until recently, and describes the sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics of households in urban areas of South Africa. Using a 1993 national survey of 4,447 urban South African households, this study evaluates a conceptual model in which it is hypothesized that there are direct and indirect relationships between household sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics and housing and living conditions, health and quality of life, as well as indirect relationships operating through income and expenditures. The major findings are that urban poverty is a very serious social problem in terms of poor housing and living conditions, limited access to health care and lower life satisfaction among urban households. Race, class and gender are prominent among household level sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics that shape these important outcomes. The study concludes by discussing public policy issues.