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South Africa receives millions of dollars in aid from the US government, primarily for HIV/Aids programmes. The US paid out $72-billion in aid in 2023 and $41-billion so far in 2024. https://theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/90156

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

17 African countries reported over 1,000 cholera cases each in 2023 and 2024, with many outbreaks linked to or worsened by severe weather events. theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Joburg is beset by water outages but the official notices are sometimes hard to understand. We made a tool to help you understand the water infrastructure in JHB. theoutlier.co.za/water

submitted 29 days ago • 1 comment

Joburg has 12,300 people with assets worth +$1-million, the most of any city in Africa. 3 of the top 10 places with the most millionaires are in the Western Cape: Cape Town (7,400), the Cape Winelands (Stellenbosch) & the Garden Route. 🔗 https://www.theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/87111

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

The mobile technology in most parts of Africa is predominantly 2G & 3G. SA is in the process of retiring 2G & 3G, which were launched in 1991 & 2001 respectively. 4G connections, which launched in 2009, are expected to almost double by 2030. 🔗 https://www.theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/88186

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

We've been collecting data on the water infrastructure in Johannesburg to make is easier to see how particular water facilities are connected to suburbs. This is an early version of the tool which we will be adding more data to in the coming weeks: theoutlier.co.za/tools/view/j...

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Of the 15.4-million school-going children in South Africa, almost two-thirds of them have to walk to school every day. theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

Gauteng residents spent significantly more on transport in 2024 than in 2017 according to a recent survey. The survey shows that in 2017, 12% of residents surveyed spent between R1,000 and R2,000 a month on transport. theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

Almost 45,000 grade 12 learners passed maths in 2024 with >60%, a requirement for anyone wanting to do a science, engineering or technology degree. Government set a target of 35,000 learners achieving 60% for maths in the National Senior Certificate exams by 2024. theoutlier.co.za/education/20...

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

Girls continue to outperform boys when it comes to bachelor passes in the South African grade 12 matric exam results and there are many more girls writing matric exams. Some experts are concerned boys struggling in the current education system? theoutlier.co.za/education/20...

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

ICYMI: In 2023 Shoprite had a workforce of 153,726 employees, 60,000 more than Pick n Pay. By March 2024, its workforce had grown to more than 160,000. 🔗 https://www.theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/87011

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

South Africans who have moved to Australia are often highly educated: 43% have a bachelor’s degree or higher. One third (36%) of the SA-born people living there were working as professionals and 15% as managers, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/53hm8k5n

submitted 37 days ago • 1 comment

There are 2171 living languages in Africa. Kiswahili is one of them & is a lingua franca throughout East & Central Africa. Swahili developed over hundreds of years of trade between the Middle East & East Africa. Swahili is derived from the Arabic phrase ‘of the coast’ 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/5aprbuh7

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

Almost 8-million people are living with HIV in South Africa, more than any other country in the world. Nearly 6-million people in SA are taking antiretroviral drugs. lnkd.in/dQbXZB8p

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

Minibus taxis and private cars are the two primary modes of transport for people living in Gauteng, according to a province-wide survey conducted by the Gauteng-City Region Observatory. 🔗 https://www.theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/89861

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

A report on malaria in Africa predicts that, due to climate change, more people will die of the disease. SA’s malaria areas are in Limpopo, KZN & Mpumalanga near the borders with Zimbabwe and Mozambique. SA aims to eradicate malaria by 2030. 🔗 https://tinyurl.com/4sm73enn

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

Learners at 287 South African public schools only have access to pit toilets. 174 of those schools are in the Eastern Cape. The Department of Basic Education had an initial target of supplying all schools with appropriate sanitation by the end of 2016. https://theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/88628

submitted 42 days ago • 1 comment

Employees in Gauteng earn more than those in other provinces. Median earnings in Gauteng were R7,500 a month in 2022, which is R2k more than the median in the Western Cape, according to StatsSA’s 'Monthly Earnings in SA 2017-2022' report. https://theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/89856

submitted 43 days ago • 1 comment

Access to ARTs has dramatically reduced HIV-related deaths, enabling people to live longer, healthier lives. Eight countries have reached 90% ART coverage for people living with HIV, but SA isn't one of them. 🔗 https://www.theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/90057

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

Started reading Capitec: Stalking Giants by TJ Strydom. Interesting to read the history & see how the bank has challenged many unwritten 'rules' of banking. This chart on the closures of ATMs versus Capitec's growth is more evidence of this. https://theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/88415

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

Yesterday's newsletter was a special edition: my favourite data visualisation resources. A few years back I started a list of favourite tools and resources. Each year I update the list to add new resources, clear out older/defunct items: theoutlier.co.za/databites/20...

submitted 46 days ago • 0 comments

Housing collapse: 82% fewer RDP/BNG houses were built in 2023/2024 than in 1998/99 Just 42,773 government-funded houses were built in South Africa in the 2023/24 financial year., an 82% decline from the 235,635 houses built 26 years ago in 1998/99. https://theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/88257

submitted 50 days ago • 0 comments

This chart comparing CEO and lowest-paid worker salaries was one of our most popular charts in 2024: Woolworths’ CEO earns 1,308 times more than its lowest-paid worker. The average retail worker takes 630 days to earn what CEO earns a day. https://theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/89318

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

On the road again: Most Gauteng residents fall in the lower socioeconomic class brackets and rely on minibus taxis. However, many say they opt for private cars when they can – either as drivers or passengers. theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

submitted 52 days ago • 1 comment

Female employees earn 25% less than men in South Africa. Women's median monthly earnings in 2022 were R1,200 lower than men’s. Women’s median earnings are only R800 higher than the minimum wage. https://theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/89851

submitted 53 days ago • 1 comment

Just discovered a great resource. Want to understand data in Africa then you must follow @alastairotter.bsky.social - Alastair when will The Outlier get its own Sky account? #Data @groundup.org.za @pierredevos.bsky.social

submitted 54 days ago • 1 comment

Electricity use now costs old-age grant pensioners almost half of their grant per month. Typical use of 350kWh costs R1,043. An old-age grant is R2,180 a month. https://theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/89046

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

Enjoying the gentle rain to start the year off.

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

There is a perception that charity, donations and aid from the Global North is what is keeping African economies afloat. Yet the combined aid and development assistance to Africa in 2022 was $37-billion less than remittances from African diaspora. https://theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart/89546

submitted 55 days ago • 3 comments

65% of Gauteng residents have never used an e-hailing service for transport and only 1.2% do so as their main form of transport. https://buff.ly/4gRIxVd

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

Joburg Water, the city’s water utility, recorded 41 ‘unplanned maintenance’ issues in October and November, compared with only 20 planned ones over the same two months. Unplanned incidents, triggered by infrastructure failures such as burst pipes, affected over 160 suburbs. https://buff.ly/3BHm5iR

submitted 57 days ago • 0 comments

Minibus taxis and private cars are the two primary modes of transport for people living in Gauteng, according to a province-wide survey conducted by the Gauteng-City Region Observatory (GCRO). 36% of people surveyed said they relied on private cars and 38% on minibus taxis. https://buff.ly/3BKLJ6h

submitted 58 days ago • 1 comment

Tertiary education has a significant impact on earning. The median salary for South African employees with a tertiary education is 288% higher than that for all employees in the country. And within that, men earn more than women, still. https://buff.ly/3VWOCI3

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

Last working day of the 2024! Was a crazy year in which we published more than 200 new charts in the Our World in Charts collection theoutlier.co.za/charts and launched and ran the first cohort of the African Data Journalism Academy dataacademy.africa We did a lot else but those two stand out.

submitted 66 days ago • 0 comments

Fantastic work from @edhawkins.org showyourstripes.info/c/africa/sou...

submitted 88 days ago • 0 comments

Jonathan is back with his daily 'Cracking the Cluedle' video series. If you want to learn how to solve cryptic clues, check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFME... and/or sign up for our daily Cluedle clue: cluedle.theoutlier.co.za

submitted 88 days ago • 0 comments

I'm busy rebuilding our Outlier Insights (and backend Data Desk) tools. V1 done 2 years ago was built on PHP/MySQL. New version will be Supabase/Postgresql, Node, Sveltekit. When it's done we'll have almost entirely off PHP. Love PHP but time to move on.

submitted 90 days ago • 0 comments

So agree. And happy to see restaurant/bakery analogies. For a while I've been using a similar example: people need to eat, so in theory restaurants are doing important work. But some serve the homeless and some the rich. Not all will survive, or even deserve to survive.

submitted 97 days ago • 0 comments

Kickstarting this feed with an Excel remake of our popular loadshedding calendar: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHY7... The original is mostly Javascript: loadshed.theoutlier.co.za But someone in a class workshop asked how this could be done in Excel. This is a first stab at that. #datavisualization

submitted 99 days ago • 0 comments

New here ... posts to come shortly. Any recommendations for media/data visualisation follows?

submitted 99 days ago • 1 comment