South Africans are redefining who counts as family and increasingly relying on that wider definition, according to new research from KLA, the exclusive YouGov partner for sub-Saharan Africa. The study reveals a society deeply committed to family while grappling with what family means, who belongs within it, and what people can realistically expect from one another.
87% of South Africans agree with the statement 'family over everything', but 71% believe the value of family has declined over recent decades. Women (63% definitely agree) are even more likely than men (58%) to say 'family over everything', reinforcing their role as key custodians of family life. Add to that 82% embracing chosen family over bloodlines, 75% calling for equal household responsibility between men and women, and 75% observing that young people lean on their parents more than ever, and what emerges is not a contradiction, but a picture of a society working hard to protect what it values most.
Who counts as family is changing
82% of respondents agree that 'you don’t need to be blood to be family'. Women are more likely to hold this view than men (87% versus 77%), suggesting they are more active in building and sustaining non-biological support networks. A related finding reinforces this – 71% agree that families can be loving and supportive without a typical family structure, again with women showing stronger agreement (76% versus 67% among men). Women are also slightly more likely than men to say you have to work hard to make family work, pointing to their investment in keeping these extended and chosen networks functioning.
These figures reflect the realities of urbanisation and geographic mobility. When biological family is distant, people build new support systems, and the data suggests South Africans are not only doing this out of necessity but actively valuing and legitimising it. For brands, the implication is direct – communications that define 'family' narrowly risk excluding the actual networks through which many South Africans live and make decisions. They also risk missing how gender shapes those networks, with women more likely to be holding together support structures, but both men and women strongly agreeing that family comes before career.
The family is carrying more than it used to
75% of South Africans agree that young people depend more on their parents today than in past generations, with men and women closely aligned on this (77% and 73% respectively). It is one of the few statements in the data where the gender gap narrows to near-insignificance, a sign of how widely this reality is felt. This rare point of near-unanimity across genders reinforces that the 'invisible safety net' of family is understood as a shared responsibility rather than a burden carried by one group alone.
This likely reflects a combination of structural pressures – youth unemployment, the rising cost of housing, and extended education pathways. Whatever the exact mix of causes, family support systems are visibly picking up slack that other systems aren't. The family is functioning as an informal safety net at scale, and purchasing decisions, financial priorities and lifestyle choices are increasingly made within a multi-generational context. Here again, gender nuances matter whereby women are more likely to insist on equal responsibility within the household, while men are marginally more likely to say their family is more important than their career, together signalling an appetite on both sides for shared sacrifice and shared decision-making.
What this means for brands
For businesses looking to connect with South African consumers, two themes stand out. The first is representation. With 63% of respondents wishing they could see more advertising that reflects families like theirs, the gap between the diversity of real South African households and how those households are depicted is measurable, and closing it is an opportunity, not just an obligation.
The second is structure. Financial services, housing, insurance and FMCG brands all need to account for households where multiple generations are financially interdependent. Products built around the nuclear family unit may not serve the actual decision-making structures South African consumers navigate. The 25-year-old still living at home, or the parent co-signing a lease, represent a significant and growing segment of the market. Creative and product design that still assumes traditional gender roles inside these multi-generational households will miss the mark – most South Africans support equal responsibility at home, with women especially likely to say they “definitely” believe men and women should share household responsibilities.
A culture that protects what it values
South Africans are not passive about family, they’re actively invested in it. The same 87% who put family above everything else worry about its decline, are expanding who gets to count as family, expect equality within the household, and recognise that the younger generation is leaning harder on that foundation than ever before. Within that shared picture, women emerge as strong advocates for both 'family over everything' and equal responsibility at home, while men are equally clear that family comes before career suggesting not a gender divide but different expressions of the same underlying commitment. That is not a contradictory picture. It is a coherent one, and brands that understand it will be better placed to engage meaningfully with South African consumers.
The data referenced in this release is sourced from YouGov Profiles+, South Africa, Dataset: 7 December 2025. The nationally representative sample comprised 23,239 adults aged 18 and over.
For more information, visit www.kla.co.za.
