| AUTHOR | |
| ORGANIZATION | UNICEF |
| TYPE | Field Examples |
| DATE | 2010 |
| TOPIC | Economic crisis and recovery |
| LANGUAGE | English |
The financial crisis in the world's major economies and the subsequent world recession deeply affected South Africa. Some of the impacts were felt in investor and consumer confidence, as well as through strongly declining prices of South African export commodities. Consequently, most of the economy slid into recession which impacted on employment and rising food prices. In this context, poverty probably increased and would very likely have affected children. Almost 40% of South Africa's total population are children, of which two-thirds live in poverty, compared to the adult poverty headcount of 45%.
This paper reports on a study to provide insights into the magnitude of the shocks associated wtih the crisis in macroeconomic terms in South Africa, the county's capacity to withstand or cushion these shocks, and the extent of fragility in terms of poverty levels and child well-being.
