Almost a third of South African households now own their own cars - while 90% have electric stoves

• The General Household Survey by Statistics SA found that one-third of South African households own cars, and 90% own electrical stoves. 
• Vehicle ownership is considerably higher in metropolitan areas.
• The survey found, among other results, that the ownership of most household appliances increased the past year while computer ownership decreased. 
• For more, go to Business Insider SA.

Despite the tough economy, ownership of cars and household appliances increased in the past year, a new survey by Statistics South Africa found. 

The General Household Survey 2018, released on Tuesday, found that 30.6% of South African households own a vehicle - up half a percentage point from 2017. 

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It found that households in metropolitan areas have considerable higher vehicle ownership (39.4%), compared to 14.3% in rural areas.

More than a third of households said that they use a car to get to work, while 9% of children were transported by car to school. By comparison, 24% of households reported using a taxi to get to work, 4.5% used a bus, and 2.1% used a train. 

To get to school, 6.8% of household children reported using taxis, 3.6% used a bus, and 0.4% used a train. 

In total 20.4% of households reported walking to work, and 64.6% of household children reported walking to school. 

Percentage distribution of households by selected assets owned, by urban/rural status, 2018 (supplied, Statistics South Africa)

The survey showed that 89.6% of South African households own an electrical stove, an 1.1 percentage point increase from 2017. 

Refrigerator ownership increase by 1.5 percentage point from 76.4% in 2017 to 77.9% in 2018, and television ownership by 0.2 percentage point from 82% to 82.2%. 

Computer ownership was the only asset category to see a decline - it fell by half a percentage point from 22% in 2017 to 21.5% in 2018. 

Almost 90% of South African households have access to a cellphone, 0.1% to a land line and 7.1% to both.

Percentage of households who have a functional landline and cellular telephone in their dwellings by province, 2018 (supplied)

Only 3.4% of South African households reported not having access to either. 

In total, the survey found that 64.7% of South Africans have access to the internet - a 2.9% percentage point increase - while only 10.4% have access to the internet at home. 

Limpopo is the province with the lowest internet penetration where only 46.2% of households have access to the internet, followed by the Eastern Cape with 55.3% and the Northern Cape with 55.4%. 

The survey was compiled through face to face interviews with 21,908 households across the country’s nine provinces between January and December 2018.  

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