South Africa
#Saftu on World Bank inequality report─── 05:35 Mon, 14 Mar 2022
The South African Federation of Trade Unions says it's not surprised by the World Bank report on inequalities in our country.
eNCA reports the report examines the process of household income generation in order to analyze the sources of inequality in the region.
According to the World Bank, the wealthiest 10% of the country's population control more than 80% of household wealth.
Meanwhile, the Mail & Guardian previously reported South Africa is the most unequal country in the world, having seen a widening gap between the haves and have-nots since the end of apartheid in 1994, according to the World Bank.
The bank’s report, titled Inequality in Southern Africa: An Assessment of the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu), released this week, shows that the union is the world’s most unequal region with a consumption inequality over 40 percent higher than the averages for both sub-Saharan Africa and other upper-middle-income countries, the report found.
South Africa is the largest country in Sacu – which also includes Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Namibia – and ranks first (or worst) among 164 countries worldwide on the World Bank’s global poverty database. Botswana, Eswatini and Namibia rate among the 15 most unequal countries, while Lesotho remains in the top 20, despite making improvements in recent years.
The report found that consumption inequality per capita in the Sacu region declined from 68.7 during the 2000s to 66.5 in 2016. Botswana and Lesotho recorded the most declines while inequality in Eswatini and South Africa remained relatively stagnant. Consumption inequality is measured by the Gini coefficient: a statistical distribution of welfare indicators commonly used to measure inequality, such as income or consumption.
The World Bank report notes South Africa is characterised by “high wealth inequality and economic polarisation (particularly across labour markets)”. Wealth inequality is higher than income inequality, with estimates showing that the top 10% of the population hold 71% of its wealth, whereas the bottom 60% hold only 7% percent. This compares with 50% percent and 13% respectively for member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
