Almost 35% of the total South African personal income of R1,232-billion accrued to Gauteng in 2006, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 16,3% and the Western Cape with 14,7%, a new report showed on Monday.
According to the personal income report — by the University of South Africa’s Bureau of Market Research (BMR) — Gauteng led the pack despite the 2005 boundary changes that favoured the Northern Cape. The province delivered 2,1% of South Africa’s income.
According to Professor Helgard van Wyk, BMR research director, almost 65% of all Indian income is received in KwaZulu-Natal, while just more than 59% of Coloured income is received in the Western Cape.
Provincial income per capita or per head of the population was equally skewed. The report shows that average income per head is above the country’s average, which is set as equal to an index of 100. Gauteng was 81,7% above the average and the Western Cape was 54,8% above average. Limpopo’s income is only 48,2% of the average.
The racial composition of the provincial populations has a marked influence on the level of income per head. Average income per household follows virtually the same pattern, although this income is also influenced by household size, which varies from 4,4 people per household in Limpopo to 3,3 people per household in Gauteng, the report shows.
While the boundaries of two provinces — the Free State and Western Cape — did not change in 2005, the redrawing of the boundaries of the other seven provinces probably affected around 1,5-million people, mostly Africans.
In comparing the pre-2005 boundary figures with those of the new boundaries, the most notable drop in the share of provinces in African income occurred in North West — a decline from 10,3% to 9,5% — while the shares of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape improved.
The BMR report also provides information on the number of households and their income by life stage (age of household head) and life plane (level of education of household head).
Household heads in more than 43% of households in South Africa (59% in Limpopo) had no education or no more than a primary school certificate while 6,3% of household heads were graduates.
“Almost 58% of all income is received by households of which the household head has at least a Grade 12. In both Gauteng and the Western Cape the figure is in the region of 65%,” the report says.
Almost 30% of all income accrues to households headed by 36 to 45-years-olds and this age group is the highest average annual income per household at R183 000 in Gauteng.
Households in Gauteng headed by graduates receive an average income of R427 000 per annum while an average for South Africa in this segment is R334 000. In contrast, households in the Eastern Cape headed by persons with only primary school or no education receive an average of only R29 000 per annum.
In 2001 almost 45% of all households in the high-income group — R614 401 — were found in Gauteng.
Although households in this income group constituted only 1,1% of all the households in South Africa, they contributed 26,1% of all household income, says the report. ‒ I-Net Bridge