Wealth inequality on the increase

By Khanyisa Tabata
26 November 2009


The South African Institute of Race Relations have found that the distribution of wealth in the country is now more unequal than a decade ago.

Researcher Kervin Lebone says the development may be an unintended consequence of black economic empowerment and employment equity policies.

The trend is revealed in the so-called Gini measure, which measures the level of wealth distribution.

Zero represents perfect equality, while a score of one represents perfect inequality.

Most developed countries have scores of between 0.20 and 0.40.

It has increased over the past decade from point-64 to point-66 in South Africa.

In South Africa, most racial groups saw their Gini scores increase over the past 10 years, meaning that the distribution of wealth has become more unequal.