Inequality, poverty and prospects for redistribution

Figures & data

Figure 1: Relationship between poverty and inequality for a hypothetical log-normal income distribution

Source: Yu (2012:255, Figure 6.4).

Table 1: Estimates of total and per-capita income, 1970–2000

	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1995	2000	2007
All income in millions (2000 Rand values)
Blacks	50 454	82 683	108 131	132 553	170 630	212 294	252 071	346 964
Coloureds	17 513	20 999	23 854	29 436	36 784	44 417	53 111	67 081
Indians	6 298	8 361	10 892	13 635	17 181	21 480	26 396	47 332
Whites	151 963	189 279	211 504	235 605	260 835	277 411	326 307	396 329
Total	226 228	301 321	354 381	411 230	485 429	555 601	657 884	857 706
Share of income (%)
Blacks	22.3	27.4	30.5	32.2	35.2	38.2	38.3	40.5
Coloureds	7.7	7.0	6.7	7.2	7.6	8.0	8.1	7.8
Indians	2.8	2.8	3.1	3.3	3.5	3.9	4.0	5.5
Whites	67.2	62.8	59.7	57.3	53.7	49.9	49.6	46.2
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Per-capita income (2000 Rand values)
Blacks	3 134	4 479	5 107	5 423	6 008	6 704	7 283	9 070
Coloureds	8 184	8 630	8 822	9 855	11 404	12 722	14 126	15 331
Indians	9 595	11 244	13 296	15 113	17 637	20 592	23 938	38 028
Whites	39 217	44 242	46 670	48 370	51 951	53 840	62 360	85 661
Total	9 936	11 626	12 125	12 385	12 903	13 436	14 716	17 684

Sources: Data up to 2000 taken from Van der Berg & Louw (2004), using estimates derived from many sources; for 2007, an author's own estimate was added, based on applying distributional shares derived from the Community Survey 2007, after applying sequential regression multiple imputation. All estimates use racial shares applied to national accounts-adjusted current household incomes.

Table 2: Gini coefficient using annual per-capita income

	COICOP	Post SRMI
IES1995	0.66	–
Census 1996	–	0.69
IES2000	0.71
Census 2001	–	0.76
IES2005 (excluding imputed rent)	0.72	–
IES2005 (including imputed rent of dwelling of 7% per year)	0.72	–
Community Survey 2007	–	0.74

Notes: IES2005 was classified according to the new structure of national accounts of the United Nations. To make comparisons over time, re-classification of some items in accordance with the old Standard Trade Classification or the new COICOP (Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose) was necessary for all three IES survey. SRMI = sequential regression multiple imputation.

Sources: Yu (2008:20, Table 12; 2009:44, Table 22).

Figure 2: Gini coefficients for income, expenditure or consumption derived from various data sources and using alternative techniques

Source: Own calculations from OHS 2005 & LFS 2005b.
Notes: STC = Standard Trade Classification; COICOP = Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose; SRMI = sequential regression multiple imputation; NIDS = National Income Dynamics Study; PSLSD = Project for Statistics on Living Standards and Development; OHS = October Household Survey; GHS = General Household Survey; LFS = Labour Force Survey; IES = Income and Expenditure Survey; CS = Community Survey.

Table 3: Gini coefficients estimated from various surveys and censuses for intra-group distribution (income or expenditure per capita), 1970–2000

	Blacks	Coloureds	Indians	Whites	Total
1970	–	0.53	0.42	0.43	–
1975	0.49	–	–	–	–
IES1995	0.57	0.52	0.49	0.47	0.66
IES1995 (expenditure)	0.58	0.52	0.49	0.47	–
Census 1996	0.68	0.57	0.53	0.52	–
Census 1996 (post SRMI)	0.62	0.53	0.48	0.46	0.69
IES2000	0.59	0.55	0.51	0.49	–
Census 2001 (post SRMI)	0.65	0.60	0.58	0.57	0.76
Community Survey 2007 (post SRMI)	0.66	0.62	0.61	0.56	0.74

Sources: Van der Berg & Louw (2004); Yu (2009:41, Table 21).

Notes: SRMI, sequential regression multiple imputation.

Table 4: Decomposition of inequality into three main income sources, IES2005

			Wages	Transfers	Other income (e.g. from assets)	Total
1	% of households receiving income source	Pk	66	46	72
2	Mean income from income source (Rand)		35 588	3 397	11 292	51 277
3	Share in total income (%)	Sk	71.3	6.6	22.0
4	Gini coefficient for income source for households receiving such income	Ga	0.651	0.457	0.829
5	Gini coefficient for income source for all households	Gk	0.770	0.753	0.878
6	Gini coefficient correlation with total income rankings	Rk	0.923	0.028	0.734
7	Contributions to Gini coefficient of total income	SkGkRk	0.507	0.001	0.142	0.6501
8	% share in total income		77.9	0.2	21.9

Sources: Author's own calculations from IES2005.

Notes: G_k = P_kG_k + (1 – P_k), where k denotes the income sources (wages, transfers, other income).

Figure 3: Participation and employment as proportion of the population by age, 1995 and 2005

Source: Author's own calculations from IES2005.

Figure 4: Conditional probability of employment and conditional log of wages by years of education