Gauteng residents increasingly living alone, while larger households are common in KZN – Stats SA

According to the 2025 General Household Survey from Stats SA, the number of households in South Africa increased from 11.2 million in 2002 to 20.1 million in 2025.

Stats SA defines households as all individuals who live together under the same roof or in the same yard, and who share resources such as food or money to keep the household functioning.

Gauteng accounted for the largest share of households, increasing from 2.785 million in 2002 to 6.193 million in 2025. This was followed by KwaZulu-Natal, which increased from 2.070 million in 2002 to 3.483 million in 2025, the Western Cape, from 1.217 million in 2002 to 2.256 million in 2025, Limpopo, from 1.121 million in 2002 to 1.870 million in 2025, and the Eastern Cape, from 1.506 million in 2002 to 1.799 million in 2025.

The Northern Cape recorded the lowest number of households, from 247 000 in 2002 to 397 000 in 2025.

Household members

In 2025, more than 26.6% of South African households consisted of a single person. Single-person households were most common in Gauteng (29.2%) and least common in the Western Cape (17.6%). By contrast, households comprising six or more people were most common in KwaZulu-Natal (20.0%) and the Northern Cape (17.2%). Larger households with more than six members were more common in rural areas (19.0%) than in urban areas (10.1%).

In 2025, more than 42.6% of households in South Africa were headed by women.This included 40.4% of urban and 47.6% of rural households headed by women. Women-headed households were most common in KwaZulu-Natal (48.4%), followed by the Eastern Cape (48.1%), the Northern Cape (47.3%) and Limpopo (47.1%). Women-headed households were least common in Gauteng (36.2%).

Children’s orphanhood status

In 2025, 18.5% of all children were not living with either biological parent, while 31.4% lived with both parents.

A higher proportion of children lived exclusively with their mothers (45.9%) compared with those living exclusively with their fathers (4.2%). The prevalence of children not living with either parent was highest in the Eastern Cape (34.0%), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (23.6%) and the Free State (19.8%), and lowest in the Western Cape (9.3%) and Gauteng (9.7%).

In urban areas, the largest proportion of children lived with both parents (40.2%), while 41.9% lived with their mothers only. More than half of all children (51.4%) in rural areas lived with their mothers only, while 19.3% lived with both parents.

In 2025, about 11.2% of children in South Africa could be classified as orphans who had lost either one or both of their parents. While 1.6% had lost both parents, 2.3% had lost their mothers and 7.3% had lost their fathers.

The percentage of orphaned children was highest in the North West (14.4%) and the Free State (14.2%), and the lowest in the Western Cape (8.1%).