New research by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has shown that 57% of South Africans are living below the poverty line of R1 290 a month for a family of four.
And the ”poverty gap”, which measures the required income transfer to all poor households to lift them from poverty, grew from R56-billion in 1996 to R81-billion in 2001. On average, the national poverty gap increased from 6,7% of the Gross Domestic Product over the period.
Craig Schwabe, the director of the geographical information systems department at the HSRC and author of the research, said the figures were still applicable in 2004.
Schwabe said the fact that the poorer households had not shared in the proceeds of economic growth was reflected in the rise in inequality between rich and poor.
To measure such inequality, the HSRC uses the Gini coefficient, ranging from 0 for extremely even income distribution to 1 for highly unequal distribution. South Africa’s Gini coefficient rose from 0,69 in 1996 to 0,77 in 2001.
”While historically South Africa has had one of the most unequal distributions of income in the world, this rise is likely to place it at the top of world rankings,” he said. ”In the past inequality in South Africa was largely defined along race lines. It has become increasingly defined by inequality within population groups as the gap between rich and poor within each group has increased substantially.”
The Gini coefficient for the African population rose from 0,62 in 1991 to 0,72 in 2001. South Africa’s is almost as polarised. Whites have a Gini co-efficient of 0,60, ”which is extremely high for a group whose education and occupational profile matches that of societies in highly industrialised countries”, said Shwabe.
The research identifies the country’s 10 poorest municipalities, seven of which are in the Eastern Cape. Ntabankulu in the Eastern Cape is identified as the poorest. The Eastern Cape and Limpopo have the highest proportion of poor people, with 77% and 72% of their population respectively living below the poverty line. The Western Cape has the lowest proportion of people living in poverty (32%), followed by Gauteng (42%).
According to Schwabe, the main factor in measuring the poorest areas is the ”economic dependency ratio — the ratio of employed to unemployed people. In addition to this, the wealthier areas have superior access to transport.”
Even though Gauteng has the highest number of informal settlements, 85% of its population is within five kilometres of a road. The economic dependency ratio in Gauteng is also high, hence its relative wealth.
KwaZulu-Natal has the biggest poverty gap (R18-billion), followed by the Eastern Cape (R14,8-billion) and Gauteng (R12,1-billion). The Northern Cape has the smallest gap, at R1,5-billion, but has a much smaller population.
Among municipalities, Durban has the largest poverty gap, followed by Johannesburg and the East Rand.