Rapid Urbanisation can be considered as the root cause of an ‘invisible crisis’ of urban food
security. By 2030, most of Africa’s population will reside in urban areas, and South Africans will
be no exception. Food security in this regard is a state in which all people at all times have
both physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary
needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life. Food insecurity on the household
level has severe implications for nutrition, and households that fail to obtain nutritious food may
develop multiple chronic health problems. Food insecurity and limited dietary diversity may
also result in poor physical and mental health. In sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of
malnourished people is estimated to have risen from 17 percent in 1990 to 27 percent in 2011.
Dietary diversity scores are being used increasingly as measures of food security and as
proxies for nutrient adequacy. This study examines the relationship between dietary diversity
scores and socio economic variables in a low-income neighbourhood in South Africa. The
study intends to answer the question: To what extent do socio economic factors determine
dietary diversity in low-income neighbourhoods. A quantitative research method was deployed
and a stratified random sample of 600 was undertaken in Sharpeville and Bophelong, lowincome
neighbourhoods in South Africa, to determine the dietary diversity of food secure
versus foods insecure households. Multiple regressions were used to determine the effects of
socio economic characteristics, on the dietary diversity scores of households. The dietary
diversity scores were then considered as the outcome variable and socio economic variables
as predictors. The study concluded that marital status, employment status, age, gender,
household income and expenditure on food predict dietary diversity on the household level.
The recommendation is that government must focus on urban food insecurity separately, with
a more comprehensive strategy.