Fifty years after the June 16 Soweto student uprising, young people face different challenges in South Africa.
Fifty years after the 1976 Soweto Uprising, South Africa’s youth are more educated, more urban, and have better access to services than previous generations — but unemployment and poverty continue to define their reality.
That is according to new data released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) during Youth Month as the agency marks 30 years of census-taking in democratic South Africa.
Drawing on census and survey data collected between 1996 and 2022, Stats SA said the country’s youth population aged 15–34 grew from 14.7 million to 21.6 million, an increase of 38.6%.
“The generation of 1976 fought for access to quality education, dignity, and equal opportunity,” Stats SA said.
