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South Africa income disparities widening
South African income disparities have widened in the face of HIV/AIDS, an inadequate social safety net and the economy?s inability to create jobs, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
The UN?s 2003 Human Development Report for South Africa said that according to the Gini coefficient ? a widely used measurement of inequality ? income disparities grew between 1995 and 2001.
?In 1995, the Gini coefficient for South Africa was 0.596; it rose to 0.635 in 2001, suggesting that income inequality is worsening,? the report said.
If the Gini coefficient is 0, there is perfect income equality, while 1 signals absolute income inequality.
A decade after the end of white-minority rule, the report said South Africa remains one ?of the most unequal societies in the world?.
It also said the percentage of the population living on below $1 per day increased to 10.5 percent in 2002 from 9.4 percent in 1995.
Income distribution among whites, who comprise about 10 percent of the country?s 45 million people, was more equal than it was among blacks and other ethnic groups.
There has been much debate about inequality in South Africa. Some studies suggest it has been widening as the post-apartheid economy liberalises after decades of global isolation. Others suggest a more stagnant scenario.
All agree that income cleavages remain sharp and that most black South Africans live in poverty. South Africa?s unemployment rate is estimated to be around 40 percent and while the economy has been growing at an average annual rate of about 2.7 percent over the past decade, growth has failed to generate jobs.
An estimated one in nine South Africans is also infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS and this has worsened poverty by killing off breadwinners.
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