title: Who Benefits--Or Does not--From South Africa's Old Age Pension? Evidence from Characteristics of Rural Pensioners and Non-Pensioners.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Mississippi State University, P.O. Box C, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. mralston@soc.msstate.edu.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ralston
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Missouri, 535 Clark Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. schatzej@health.missouri.edu.|Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0483, USA. schatzej@health.missouri.edu.|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. schatzej@health.missouri.edu.
authors.forename: Enid
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schatz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0483, USA. menken@Colorado.edu.|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. menken@Colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Menken
authors.affiliation: 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. F.Gomez-OliveCasas@wits.ac.za.|INDEPTH Network, P.O. Box KD213 Kanda, Accra, Ghana. F.Gomez-OliveCasas@wits.ac.za.
authors.forename: Francesc Xavier
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Gómez-Olivé
authors.affiliation: 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@wits.ac.za.|INDEPTH Network, P.O. Box KD213 Kanda, Accra, Ghana. Stephen.Tollman@wits.ac.za.|Umeå Centre for Global Health Research, Umeå University, Umeå 90001-90850, Sweden. Stephen.Tollman@wits.ac.za.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tollman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004608:Eligibility Determination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010415:Pensions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013019:South Africa
keywords: Africa; South Africa; ageing; pension; self-reported disability; socio-economic status