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The South African Institute of Race Relations said that every working person in South Africa supports themselves and on average three other people.
A survey conducted by SAIRR shows that the general dependency has dropped among South Africans in the past 15 years.
The research manager at the institute, Lucy Holborn, said that in 1994 an average of 3.8 people depended on each employed person, a figure which had fallen to 2.8 by 2012.
Holborn said there were significant racial discrepancies in levels of dependency.
