Household Income
Today, South Africa has the world’s highest level of income inequality, and it is the Black majority that still teeters precariously at the bottom end of the scale. The average annual income of a white household is about 365,000 rand ($42,000; £26,000), followed by Indians at 251,000 rand, people of mixed race at 251,500 rand and Blacks at 60,600 rand ($5,000; £3,000), according to the 2011 census. The same report found that whites make up 9.2 percent of South Africa’s population. In 2005, 63 percent of Black children lived in households that earned less than 800 rands, compared to only 4 percent of white children.
Income Distribution
A comparison of data from the 2008 National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) and the 1993 Project for Statistics on Living Standards and Development (PSLSD) found that income inequality had increased both aggregately and between racial groups. In 2008, the wealthiest 10 percent earned 58 percent of the total income, and the top 5 percent earned 43 percent of the total income. This economic situation is worse than in 1993, when the top 5 percent earned 38 percent of the total income.
