SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa is identified as the most economically unequal country in the world, with the wealthiest 10% of the population holding 90–95% of the wealth. The document asserts that poverty rates have increased, with 55.5% of the population living below the official national upper bound poverty line in 2015. It criticizes the government's use of fiscal austerity, noting real-term spending cuts in health and education, and argues that the tax system is insufficiently progressive, citing a corporate income tax rate that dropped from 50% in 1990 to 28% today. The report concludes that these policy choices threaten the fulfillment of social and economic rights and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

• South Africa is the most economically unequal country globally, and this gap has widened over the last ten years. As of 2014, the top 1% of earners held a 20% income share, representing an 11 percentage point increase since the end of apartheid, while the wealthiest 10% of the population controls 90–95% of the country's wealth.
• Poverty levels 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 and Black South Africans; specifically, Black African children make up 85.4% of the child population but account for 94.1% of all poor children.
• The South African government has implemented fiscal austerity through spending cuts and regressive tax changes, such as a VAT increase. Real-term spending per learner in education has declined by 8% since 2010, and national and provincial health care spending was cut by -0.1% in real terms in 2018/19.
• Domestic resource mobilization is deemed inadequate and regressive. The corporate income tax rate fell from 50% in 1990 to 28% currently, and personal income tax rates have decreased since 1999. Additionally, corruption costs the country approximately R27 billion (USD 1.9 billion) annually, and USD 107 billion was lost to illicit financial flows between 2005 and 2014.
• Labor market challenges are severe, with an expanded unemployment rate of 37% in the second quarter of 2018 and a youth unemployment rate of 67%.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2019). SOUTH AFRICA. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IEJ_Fact_Sheet_July_2019_HLPF-1.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. SOUTH AFRICA. 2019. 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=SOUTH AFRICA |date=2019 |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{instituteforeconomicjustice2019south, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{SOUTH AFRICA}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2019}, 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} }