---
title: "More than 17m people in SA applied for the R370 SRD grant in September"
description: "Most of the applicants for the Social Relief of Distress grant have never had a job, says the South African Social Security Agency."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "GROUNDUP"
author: "Marecia Damons"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/marecia-damons/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-10-02-more-than-17m-applied-for-the-r370-srd-grant-in-september/"
published: "2024-10-02T17:32:17"
updated: "2024-10-02T17:32:19"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 195
---

# More than 17m people in SA applied for the R370 SRD grant in September

> Most of the applicants for the Social Relief of Distress grant have never had a job, says the South African Social Security Agency.

By Marecia Damons · Published 2 October 2024, 19:32 SAST · Updated 2 October 2024, 19:32 SAST

## Key points
- More than 17 million people in South Africa applied for the R370-a-month Social Relief of Distress grant in September, with KwaZulu-Natal leading the charge.
- More than 17 million South Africans applied for the R370 SRD grant in September 2024, marking a significant rise from 13.8 million in 2021.
- A quarter of applicants (4.1 million) were first-time seekers of the grant, highlighting growing economic distress.
- KwaZulu-Natal led with 4.4 million applications, followed by Gauteng and Limpopo, while women made up 9.3 million of the applicants.
- Notably, over half of applicants (9.2 million) have never been employed, reflecting ongoing challenges in the job market.

## Content

More than 17 million people applied for the R370-a-month Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant in September 2024, according to the latest figures supplied by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).

This is an increase of more than three million people since [September 2021](https://www.sassa.gov.za/statistical-reports/Documents/Sept%202021%20-%20Report%20on%20Social%20Grants%20-%2016%20Nov%202021.pdf), when 13.8 million people applied.

About a quarter (4.1 million) of the SRD grant applicants in September applied for the grant for the first time.

![SRD grant](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GroundUp-R370-grant-inset.jpg)

KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of applications (4.4 million), followed by Gauteng (3.2 million) and Limpopo (2.3 million).

Approximately 9.3 million of the applicants were women and 7.9 million were men.

About 1.2 million applicants have no formal schooling, but most (93%) have some education. The largest group (7.5 million) have finished matric, and more than 945,000 have a tertiary qualification.

More than half of all applicants (9.2 million) have never been employed. A total of 4.8 million people have been working for one year or less, and 384,000 currently have jobs. To qualify for the SRD grant applicants must have no other source of income.

Sassa said 7.5 million SRD grant beneficiaries had been paid in August. **DM**

*First published by*[*GroundUp*](https://groundup.org.za/article/more-than-17-million-people-applied-for-the-r370-grant-in-september/)*.*

![Image](https://thirdpartyhits.groundup.org.za/counter/hit/dailymaverick/2024-10-02-more-than-17-million-people-applied-for-the-r370-grant-in-september/)