Black South Africans still earn far less than their white counterparts, a report released on Friday shows.
According to data published by Statistics South Africa, the black South Africans earned an average of only about one-fifth of what the whites earned in 2015.
Annual household income for blacks stood at an average of about $7,000 compared with 444,446 for the whites, according to Statistics South Africa’s Living Conditions Survey, conducted once every five years.
Black Africans are the majority race in South Africa, accounting for more than 80 percent of the country’s population which stands at 55 million. The whites make up just around eight percent.
Statistician General Pali Lehohla said policymakers should take note of the numbers as they showed “what we are up against”.
“We see inequality between population groups but also within population groups,” he said.
Africa’s most industrialised country has struggled to reduce poverty and inequality since the end of white minority rule in 1994.
The economy grew strongly in the first years after apartheid, but growth has tapered off in the past five years to below 3 percent.
According to Reuters, this has pushed the country to the brink of credit downgrades that would cause borrowing costs to spiral. Unemployment is at 27 percent, the highest since 2003.
