iej_fact_sheet_july_2019_hlpf-1-be552d11b427295d.pdf

This fact sheet by the Institute for Economic Justice provides a critique of South Africa's progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), arguing that the government's adoption of fiscal austerity and regressive tax policies is hindering the reduction of extreme economic inequality and the fulfillment of social and economic rights.

• South Africa is identified as the most economically unequal country globally, with inequality increasing over the last decade. By 2014, the top 1% of earners held a 20% income share, representing an 11 percentage point increase since the end of apartheid. Wealth concentration is extreme, with 90–95% of the country's wealth held by the wealthiest 10% of the population.
• Poverty rates have risen, with 55.5% of the population living below the official national upper bound poverty line (UBPL) in 2015, compared to 53.2% in 2011. This poverty disproportionately affects women, who made up 52.7% of poor individuals in 2015, and black South Africans; specifically, black African children account for 94.1% of all poor children despite being 85.4% of the child population.
• The South African government has implemented fiscal austerity through expenditure cuts and regressive tax changes, such as a VAT increase. Since 2016/17, the growth of non-interest budget expenditure for social and economic programs has lagged behind GDP and population growth, leading to a three-year decline in government expenditure per person.
• Public spending on health and education has declined in real terms. National and provincial health care spending was cut by -0.1% in real terms in 2018/19, and the Treatment Action Campaign reported 38,217 unfilled healthcare worker posts in May 2018. Education spending per learner has dropped by 8% in real terms since 2010, and the 2018 National Budget cut school infrastructure funding by R7.2 billion over three years.
• Governance and financing issues further exacerbate inequality. Corruption is estimated by the Department of Economic Development to cost South Africa at least R27 billion (approximately USD 1.9 billion) annually, and the country lost USD 107 billion to illicit financial flows between 2005 and 2014. Additionally, the tax system is described as insufficiently progressive, with the corporate income tax rate falling from 50% in 1990 to 28% today.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (n.d.). iej_fact_sheet_july_2019_hlpf-1-be552d11b427295d.pdf. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IEJ_Fact_Sheet_July_2019_HLPF-1.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. iej_fact_sheet_july_2019_hlpf-1-be552d11b427295d.pdf. n.d. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IEJ_Fact_Sheet_July_2019_HLPF-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=iej_fact_sheet_july_2019_hlpf-1-be552d11b427295d.pdf |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IEJ_Fact_Sheet_July_2019_HLPF-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforeconomicjusticendiejfactsheetjuly2019hlpf1be552d11b427295dpdf, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{iej\_fact\_sheet\_july\_2019\_hlpf-1-be552d11b427295d.pdf}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IEJ_Fact_Sheet_July_2019_HLPF-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }