What percentage of South Africa is middle class?
In fact, depending on the chosen approach, for the specific case of South Africa it is claimed that the middle class make up between 16 and 60 per cent of the national population.
Is the middle class growing in South Africa?
Data published at the end of 2020 by the University of Cape Town Liberty Institute shows that South Africa’s shrinking middle-class has been years in the making, declining from 6.1 million to 2.7 million individuals between 2017 and June 2020, translating to a 55.73% reduction.
How is middle class defined in South Africa?
This means that the literal middle group in South Africa comprises households earning between R380 and R1,140 per capita per month – in 2008 money terms.
Is South Africa a middle class country?
The World Bank defines lower-middle-income status as countries with a gross national income per capita of between $1,046 and $4,095. South Africa’s GNI per capita was $5,410 in 2020, according to the World Bank.
Who belongs in the middle class?
The Pew Research Center defines the middle class as households that earn between two-thirds and double the median U.S. household income, which was $61,372 in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 21 Using Pew’s yardstick, middle income is made up of people who make between $42,000 and $126,000.
Who belongs in the middle-class?
Is South Africa middle-income?
South Africa is an upper-middle-income economy, one of only eight such countries in Africa.
What is middle class salary in South Africa?
According to Statistics South Africa’s employment report for the fourth quarter of 2021, the average worker’s salary in South Africa is R23,982 per month. This amounts to R287,784 annually.
What is the importance of middle class in Africa?
The concept of a middle class carries with it a sense of financial stability, a developed consumer culture and a clear trajectory of growth. The task of defining the African middle class has always been difficult due to the lack of availability of, and access to, existing quality data.
What is considered middle class in Africa?
The report notes: “the middle class is usually defined as individuals with annual income exceeding USD3,900 in purchasing power parity terms’.
Is South Africa in the middle income trap?
Using this classification, 79 countries qualify as high income, 102 as middle income, and 34 as low income. Within the middle income group it is equally split at 51 each within the upper and lower middle categories. South Africa falls into the middle income group.
What is lower-middle class in South Africa?
The World Bank defines lower-middle-income status as countries with a gross national income per capita of between $1 046 and $4 095. South Africa’s GNI per capita was $5 410 in 2020, according to the World Bank.
What does middle class earn?
The Pew Research Center has put a financial definition to the term “middle income.” To be considered part of that group in 2021—which is synonymous with middle-class, according to Pew—a single American must have earned $30,003 to $90,010, according to a new set of reports released Wednesday.
Who is a middle class person?
Is there a middle class in South Africa?
The striking South African feature is that the ‘middle class’ (as understood in everyday usage) is not in the middle of the income distribution. And those who are in the middle are not ‘middle class’ (in the sense of being above some minimum level of affluence).
How big is South Africa’s middleclass?
Based on this classification (which this chapter shares) the middleclass makes up about 17% (roughly 8.3 million, – out of 51 million population based on the 2011 Census). Of this number, Africans make up 51%, Whites 34%, Coloureds 9% and Indians 6%. This configuration is a far-cry to 20 years ago, when South Africa became a democratic society.
What is the role of the African middleclass?
The early African middleclass was to serve as intermediaries between the – resistant natives (known as amaqaba– illiterates) and officialdom, to pacify and ultimately win their native brethren over to embrace British authority and culture. In other words, the African middleclass was created with a view to – assuming a political role.