How healthy are SA's taxpayers?

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, a health scare global in scale and far-reaching in its local impact, SA's middle-to-top-end earners are feeling pretty good about their health today.

That's according to the results of consumer insights consultancy WhyFive's 2023 BrandMapp survey of South Africans living in households with a monthly income of R10,000 or more. These individuals represent 100% of the personal tax base in the country, so if they are not alive and well, we're all in trouble.

The good news is that 59% of [the more than 30,000] respondents reported that they were in good health, while a further 35% defined their health as “reasonable”. Only 2% said they are experiencing poor health.

“You have to begin by understanding where 'good health’ sits in our collective mind,” says Brandon de Kock, BrandMapp’s director of storytelling.

“Year after year, we see that 75% of BrandMapp respondents are physically active and the rest are either unable to exercise or chose not to do so: elective couch potatoes if you will. But the primary difference is that 25% of inactive adults are significantly less likely to think that being fit and leading a healthy lifestyle is important in life. So it all starts with a mindset and, after that, it’s over to Mother Nature.”

Getting old is not for sissies

“When we apply an age filter to the data, we clearly see health deteriorating as people get older, but at least half of even the retired adults are actually feeling like they are in good health,” says de Kock.

“On the other hand, it's interesting that 4% of young South Africans say that they are in poor health and that happens to be double that of the oldest people. This is mirrored in other results from BrandMapp 2023, where younger people were twice as likely to say that they are living with mental health conditions.”

If you can afford to pay tax, you can afford a healthier diet

Perhaps because they are able to make better choices about health and diet, there are some noticeable health differentiators for this segment of SA society. For example, the fact that only 4% are living with diabetes when the International Diabetes Federation measures an 11.3% prevalence of diabetes in all South African adults.

“These kinds of skews can be partially explained by their ability to make healthier decisions about what’s going in the shopping trolley,” says de Kock. “For example, 48% of respondents said they were going to be cutting down on sugar in the year to come, 23% were thinking about adopting a low-carb diet and 18% wanted to cut down on their meat consumption. Being able to make healthier choices is one of the great privileges of being in the top 30% of households.”

So, what are the main ailments of SA’s mid-to-top-earners?

When it comes to the kind of conditions that are not necessarily or exclusively linked to diet and lifestyle choices, a different picture emerges.

Of the 2% of people who are in poor health, chronic disease is the primary complaint, with 20% of respondents afflicted.

While 15% of the respondents now in poor health reported that they are suffering from mental health conditions, and this far exceeds the rates of people with diabetes at 10%, heart conditions at 7% and cancer at 4%.

Yes, our health and happiness are intrinsically linked

“There are plenty of studies that show that our physical health influences our sense of wellbeing, and that feeling healthy is good for us, improving mood and boosting overall happiness,” says de Kock.

“BrandMapp 2023 certainly backs this up with a significant majority of people in good health who are happy, while the overwhelming majority of people who are in poor health are unhappy.”

But, do health and wealth go hand in hand too?

“We are also inclined to think that health and wealth must also be as strongly linked,” says De Kock. “After all, access to quality health services and products is easier, as is adopting the elements of a healthy lifestyle. So, it is interesting to see these links might be more tenuous than the connections between health and happiness. Perhaps, because you can’t buy yourself out of a chronic disease?

“What BrandMapp shows is that 68% of the wealthiest of South Africans say they are in good health. However, 63% of the lowest earners in the middle market are just as confident about their good health, and that’s a higher rate than any of the income levels between them and the very top.”

The ability to react is what really makes the difference

In the same way that higher-income consumers are able to make healthier decisions about diet and lifestyle, the one area in which they differ significantly from the mass population is their ability to access good medical care.

According to industry reports, only 15% of all South Africans belong to medical schemes, but 72% of the BrandMapp audience have medical cover of some sort.

“It’s perhaps the most important insight of all,” says De Kock, “because what these results show is that illness and disease can hit anyone, at any time. But if you can just find a way into the ‘taxpayer class’, if something does go wrong, you have a far, far higher chance of getting the help you need.”

Get the consumer insights you need to make informed decisions

BrandMapp 2023 insights are now available directly from the BrandMapp team at WhyFive Insights and by subscription via Telmar, Softcopy, Nielsen and Eighty20. For data access, email Julie-anne@whyfive.co.za 

Visit the WhyFive website for an overview of what’s in the new data.

This article was sponsored by WhyFive.