Alastair Otter

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Gauteng needs about 200 new schools, but has only built 48 schools in the 10 years between 2015 and 2025 and most of those we rebuilds. More: theoutlier.co.za/articles/thi...

Only 32 countries in the world host AI-focused data centres and fewer than 20% of those are in the Southern Hemisphere. theoutlier.co.za/articles/thi...

South Africa’s consumer price index (CPI) rose slightly from 2.7% in March to 2.8% in April 2025. The main contributors to the uptick were housing and utilities, food, beverages, tobacco, and restaurant and accommodation services. theoutlier.co.za/tools/view/c...

West Africans have far higher visa rejection rates than the global average which loses them millions of US$ every year. These are only Sub-Saharan countries as the North African countries have significantly higher application numbers but lower rejection rates. theoutlier.co.za/articles/thi...

Mozambique is South Africa’s biggest African trade partner and exports reached close to R120-billion in 2024. SA’s other top partners are, not surprisingly, its immediate neighbours, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. theoutlier.co.za/articles/thi...

Africans lost more than $70-million in rejected Schengen visa fees in 2024. Each Schengen visa application costs €90 (around R1,800) and is non-refundable. theoutlier.co.za/articles/thi...

We can go much further back. It's more illustrative at this point. Agree though that longer term is better. We usually do exactly that but in this instance I just wanted a current snapshot.

SA crime statistics show that in the last quarter of 2024 at least 96 murders recorded on farms, plots and small holdings, out of a total of more than 6,000 murders over the same period. More people are murdered in a pub, tavern or bottle store than on farm land. theoutlier.co.za/articles/thi...

Seapoint, Camps Bay and Clifton have the most Airbnb listings in Cape Town. In the CBD there are more than four times the number of listings than in most other areas. There were 25,816 Airbnbs listed in Cape Town in Dec 2024. This is 2,798 more than in March 2024. theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

What's 16c worth? About R23-billion by 2028 according to SA's National Treasury. The 16c/litre fuel levy increase announced last week is expected to boost govt coffers by this much. It's the first levy increase since 2021/22 theoutlier.co.za/articles/thi...

In Africa, 25% of the electricity is generated from low-carbon sources. Hydropower is the main source of low-carbon electricity, generating 17% of the continent’s electricity. theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

Ten years ago, in 2014, 90% of South Africa’s electricity was generated from coal, in 2024 it was 82%, according to global energy think tank Ember’s data. In January 2025, coal reached a new monthly low of 74.3% of the electricity mix. theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart... #ourworldincharts

People in South Africa are getting married older. The median age of first-time brides was 33 years in 2023, five years older than in 2002 when new brides were 28 years old. Men are four years older, 36 years old compared with 32. theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

There were 25,816 Airbnbs listed in Cape Town in December 2024.
This is 2,798 more than in March 2024 and an increase of more than 5,000 since we first visited this topic in September 2023. At that time there were 20,583 listings. theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

The deadline to eradicate all 'identified' pit toilets in South African schools is 31 March 2025. So how close are we to that goal? In yesterday's newsletter we looked at what we know and what we don't know: theoutlier.co.za/articles/hea...

There are 14.45-million registered taxpayers in South Africa. They are divided into nine income categories by the National Treasury.

Only 7.89-million of those registered have income high enough to be eligible to pay personal income tax
theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

The biggest chunk of South Africa’s 2025/26 budget is going towards servicing debt — it’s been that way since the 2022/23 budget. As Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana noted in his budget speech, 22 cents of every rand raised in revenue is spent on debt repayments.

theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

SA's response to loadshedding has been quick, installing an estimated 6,178MW of rooftop solar power – equivalent to the capacity of two power stations. GP leads with 1,799MW of rooftop solar, KwaZulu-Natal follows with 811MW. theoutlier.co.za/charts/chart...

Working on the newest version of DataDesk: and finally this morning go around to fixing the SVG downloads. Look at the layer list in Figma: seems so simple to get everything labelled correctly but so useful when it's done.

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

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...

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

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...