Who Benefits—Or Does not—From South Africa’s Old Age Pension? Evidence from Characteristics of Rural Pensioners and Non-Pensioners

Margaret Ralston, Enid Schatz, Jane Menken, Francesc Xavier Gómez-Olivé and Stephen Tollman
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Margaret Ralston: Department of Sociology, Mississippi State University, P.O. Box C, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
Enid Schatz: Department of Health Sciences, University of Missouri, 535 Clark Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Jane Menken: Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0483, USA
Francesc Xavier Gómez-Olivé: MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa
Stephen Tollman: MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Social protection grants play a critical role in survival and livelihoods of elderly individuals in South Africa. Rarely is it possible to assess how well a social program reaches its target population. Using a 2010 survey and Agincourt Health Demographic Surveillance System census data we conduct multivariate logistic regression to predict pension receipt in rural South Africa. We find only 80% of age-eligible individuals report pension receipt. Pension non-recipients tend to be male, have poor socio-economic status, live in smaller households, be of Mozambican origin, and have poorer physical function; while older persons living in households receiving other grants are more likely to report pension receipt. We conclude that a reservoir of older persons exists who meet eligibility criteria but who are not yet receiving pensions. Ensuring that they and their households are properly linked to all available social services—whether for child or old-age social grants—is likely to have beneficial and synergistic effects.

Keywords: Africa; South Africa; pension; socio-economic status; self-reported disability; ageing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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