Quality of life survey I (2009)
In 2009, the GCRO commissioned a 6 643 respondent sample survey to measure the quality of life, socio-economic circumstances, satisfaction with service delivery, psycho-social attitudes, value-base, and other characteristics of residents in the Gauteng City-Region. Fieldwork was provided by DRA, who won a highly competitive tender.
The sample covered the entire GCR, including the whole of Gauteng in detail, and also selected GCR ‘footprints’ in four neighbouring provinces. For the first time, mappable, integrated data for the GCR - with an error bar of 1,3% - was freely available to anyone interested in analysing it (subject to a data agreement which specifies the data is only for research/non-commercial gain use).
The results of the survey were released at a joint press conference by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) and Gauteng Provincial Government, Office of the Premier, on 27 May 2010.
The Premier of Gauteng, Nomvula Mokonyane, responded to the release QoL survey with this statement:
"Today we are proud to share with the Gauteng public the groundbreaking work of the Gauteng City-Region Observatory - a think tank we set up a few years ago to assist us in the development of our province into a globally competitive city-region. We welcome the results of the GCRO as they are, because we believe that we have been provided with the naked truth about our province which will help us to improve our services for our people. We intend sharing it with our municipalities and the private sector so that everyone can appreciate its implications. .... What this means is that the Observatory is serving its purpose and being brutally honest with us so that meaningful interventions could be made to improve the lot of our people. We are grateful that the academics at both Wits and UJ have compiled this important document. While its relevance may not be immediately felt; future generations are sure to look at the results of the survey and thanks the GCRO for its honesty."
Outputs
All Quality of Life survey data is freely available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Data can be downloaded from the DataFirst service at UCT, or requested from the GCRO.
The QoL data is also accessible via the GCRO QoL Survey Viewer (together with the 2011 and 2013 data). Most of the variables are selectable, with an option to crosstab by local municipal boundaries or a few other demographic variables. The results are presented as tables and/or graphs and may be printed or downloaded.
The press release summaries and powerpoint presentation are available for download below:
- GCRO QoL survey May 2010 presentation.pdf (12.5 Mb - may be slow downloading or right click and select save target as to save to a file)
- GCRO 2009 QoL survey Life in the city-region.pdf
- GCRO 2009 QoL survey Decent work final.pdf
- GCRO 2009 QoL survey Government satisfaction final.pdf
- GCRO 2009 QoL survey Race relations final.pdf
- GCRO 2009 QoL survey Xenophobic attitudes final.pdf
- QoL I questionnaire
Quality of Life Survey Data (2015 & earlier)
Other Quality of Life Surveys
Quality of Life 2020/21 Survey
Quality of Life Survey V (2017/18)
Quality of Life Survey IV (2015)