Inequality in South Africa has increased since 1996, the South African Institute of Race Relations said on Tuesday.
Figures from the institute’s latest South Africa Survey indicate that the country’s Gini coefficient has increased from 0,6 in 1996 to 0,65 in 2005.
The Gini coefficient is the globally accepted measure for inequality, with zero indicating perfect equality in a nation, where each person earns the same amount of money, and one indicating total inequality, with one person controlling all the wealth in the country.
The survey shows that inequality has increased in all the country’s race groups with the exception of whites.
In 1996, inequality among Africans was 0,53, but this had increased by more than 20% to 0,64 among this group by 2005.
Inequality between coloured people increased by nearly 17%, from 0,48 to 0,56, and in the Asian community the Gini coefficient grew from 0,47 to 0,5.
Inequality among whites remained relatively static, decreasing from 0,45 in 1996 to 0,44 in 2005, a decrease of slightly more than 2%.
Institute researcher Marius Roodt said the survey did not measure the inequality between the different race groups.
He said what made these findings ”a cause for concern” was that between 1996 and 2005, average personal disposable income per head for Africans increased by more than 20%, and for the country overall it increased by 13%.
”It would therefore appear that although we are, on average, becoming richer, we are not becoming more equal,” he said. — Sapa