South Africa remains the world’s most unequal society three decades after democratisation, with a national Gini coefficient consistently above 0.63 (World Bank Group, 2018). Recent national panel data confirm that income growth since 1994 has been captured largely by the richest decile, while 30.3 million citizens (≈ 55 %) subsist on less than R1 417 per month—the 2023 upper‑bound poverty line (Statistics South Africa, 2023). Such statistics, although widely quoted, often render invisible the day‑to‑day psychological costs of chronic deprivation. Empirical evidence links poverty to elevated risks of depression, anxiety, substance misuse and suicidal behaviour in South Africa (Mokgonyana, 2024 :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}; Nguse & Wassenaar, 2021 :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}). The present study therefore foregrounds the lived mental‑health consequences of poverty as a precursor to policy design.

Guided by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the study synthesises multidimensional poverty indicators—nutrition, energy security, housing, education, health‑care access and social belonging—to reveal compounding vulnerabilities. Recent scholarship on energy poverty illustrates these intersections: sustained electricity shortages (load‑shedding) correlate with heightened psychological distress, particularly among women and rural dwellers (Koomson, 2023 :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}) and communities facing unplanned outages (Lombard et al., 2024 :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}).

Macroeconomic shocks linked to the COVID‑19 pandemic widened the poverty gap: the World Bank projects a 9 % rise in extreme poverty for 2020–2025, reversing a decade of gains. Long‑term deprivation, rather than short‑term income loss alone, best predicts mental‑health declines (Koomson et al., 2025 :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}). Food insecurity—reported by one quarter of households—remains a critical driver: children in food‑insecure homes display 1.6‑times greater odds of anxiety and depression symptoms (Bailey et al., 2024 :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}). Stunting affected 27 % of under‑fives in 2016 and still exceeds 20 % nationally, impairing cognitive development and future earnings (van der Berg, Patel & Bridgman, 2022).

Multidimensional poverty metrics—combining health, sanitation, asset ownership and social capital—demonstrate that deprivation clusters spatially in historically marginalised, largely Black communities (Fransman & Yu, 2019). These clusters correspond to mental‑health‑care deserts: fewer than 0.31 public‑sector psychologists per 100 000 inhabitants serve rural provinces (Department of Health, 2023).

While Maslow’s hierarchy (Maslow & Lewis, 1987) is frequently criticised for cultural bias, its strata provide a pragmatic scaffold for mapping poverty’s layered harms:

• Physiological needs — nutrition, energy, water: malnutrition and energy poverty drive chronic stress and impaired neurodevelopment.
• Safety needs — secure housing, predictable power supply, protection from violence: informal settlements experience higher exposure to crime and infrastructural collapse, exacerbating trauma.
• Belonging & Esteem — stigma, unemployment and social exclusion diminish self‑worth, fostering internalised helplessness.
• Self‑actualisation — educational and occupational ceilings truncate personal agency and life satisfaction.

Integrating contemporary social‑determinants theory, the framework positions mental health as both an outcome and mediator of poverty’s cyclical reproduction.

Objective 1. Conduct a systematic scoping review (2000‑2024) of quantitative and qualitative studies on the psychological consequences of poverty in South Africa, extracting effect‑size estimates where available.

Objective 2. Compile and visualise cost‑of‑living indices (food, hygiene staples, electricity, transport) relative to the 2023 upper‑bound poverty line, using Statistics SA Consumer Price Micro‑data.

Objective 3. Facilitate two focus‑group discussions with 15–20 postgraduate social science students to co‑create policy recommendations targeting the most salient deprivation–mental‑health pathways identified in Objective 1. The dialogues will adopt a participatory action‑research ethos.

1. What psychosocial detriments—cognitive, emotional, behavioural—are most strongly associated with chronic poverty in South Africa?
2. In which domains (nutrition, energy, sanitation, education) are impoverished individuals most vulnerable, and how do these domains interact?
3. To what extent are supportive services (mental‑health care, social grants, psychosocial counselling) accessible below the poverty line?
4. Which evidence‑informed policy levers could mitigate the identified mental‑health hazards in both the short and long term?

The project offers a dual contribution. First, it consolidates disparate open‑source datasets and scholarly findings into an integrated portrait of poverty’s mental‑health burden, filling a gap in South‑African literature. Second, by engaging emergent social‑policy scholars in co‑design, it generates context‑specific, interdisciplinary interventions that extend beyond descriptive statistics to actionable strategies—aligning with the National Mental Health Policy Framework (2023–2030).

Potential outputs include an open‑access web‑based dashboard visualising poverty–mental‑health linkages and a policy brief for the Department of Social Development.

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Bailey, C., Tomlinson, M., & Ward, C. L. (2024). Food insecurity and coping strategies associate with higher risk of anxiety and depression among South African households with children. Public Health Nutrition, 27(2), 412‑425. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}

Fransman, T., & Yu, D. (2019). Multidimensional poverty in South Africa in 2001–16. Development Southern Africa, 36(1), 50‑79.

Koomson, I. (2023). Energy poverty and mental distress in South Africa: Assessing linkages and potential pathways. World Development Sustainability (in press). :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}

Lombard, A., Zulu, P., & Moyo, S. (2024). Load‑shedding, safety concerns, and mental health in South Africa. South African Journal of Psychology, 54(1), 34‑49. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}

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Mokgonyana, K. (2024, May 20). Economic inequalities lead to increased depression and anxiety. Mail & Guardian. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}

Nguse, S., & Wassenaar, D. (2021). Mental health and COVID‑19 in South Africa: An emerging syndemic? South African Medical Journal, 111(11), 1042‑1046. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}

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van der Berg, S., Patel, L., & Bridgman, G. (2022). Food insecurity in South Africa: Evidence from NIDS‑CRAM Wave 5. Development Southern Africa, 39(5), 722‑737.

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