How much the average South African household takes home each month
A new report compiled by the Institute of Race Relations details how the average household’s disposable income has changed since the dawn on democracy in the country.
The report – titled Life in South Africa: Reasons for Hope – focuses on the ‘good stories’ happening in the country, amid a tumultuous year of political and economic instability.
The IRR sees the story of “a young democracy that has made a vast amount of progress in fields ranging from the economy and employment to living standards, poverty, education, healthcare and crime”.
“This is not captured by screaming newspaper headlines but by the substantive progress we have made as a country since the end of apartheid,” the group said. “It is a story of hope amid change.”
“Not for a moment does this report discount the many serious problems our country faces. Rather, it tries to introduce some perspective and show that South Africans have much to be hopeful for despite current difficulties.
“Most importantly, we should not lose sight of the gains the country has made, lest we become too pessimistic and cynical about our future and fail to build on the solid foundations that have been laid over the past two decades,” the IRR said.
One of the focus areas of the report was on South Africa’s economic performance, which suffered during 2016, mainly due to poor political movements and uncertainty.
However, comparing things in now to how they were in 1994 tells a different story, the IRR showed.
Notably, the country has seen a massive improvement in GDP per capita and disposable household income – measured in real terms (taking inflation into account).
The South African economy is 85% larger than it was in 1994 (R1.65 trillion to R3.6 trillion in 2015), and GDP per captia (GDP divided by the population) has increased by 33% – from R42,386 in 1994 to R56,343 in 2015.
This growth is also reflected in huge growth in the disposable income per head of households (income after taxes) – where the figure has jumped from R23,686 in 1994 to R33,660 in 2015.
| Year | Disposable Income (ZAR) | Change | GDP per capita (ZAR) | GDP growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 23 686 | +0.2% | 42 386 | +3.2% |
| 1995 | 24 308 | +2.6% | 42 849 | +3.1% |
| 1996 | 24 950 | +2.6% | 43 267 | +4.3% |
| 1997 | 25 239 | +1.2% | 44 193 | +2.6% |
| 1998 | 25 008 | -0.9% | 44 420 | +0.5% |
| 1999 | 24 862 | -0.6% | 43 720 | +2.4% |
| 2000 | 25 315 | +1.8% | 43 826 | +4.2% |
| 2001 | 25 533 | +0.9% | 44 735 | +2.7% |
| 2002 | 25 930 | +1.6% | 45 075 | +3.7% |
| 2003 | 26 128 | +0.8% | 45 798 | +2.9% |
| 2004 | 27 238 | +4.2% | 46 287 | +4.6% |
| 2005 | 28 368 | +4.2% | 47 605 | +5.3% |
| 2006 | 30 103 | +6.1% | 49 335 | +5.6% |
| 2007 | 31 460 | +4.5% | 51 331 | +5.4% |
| 2008 | 31 772 | +1.0% | 53 334 | +3.2% |
| 2009 | 30 730 | -3.3% | 54 322 | +1.5% |
| 2010 | 31 503 | +2.5% | 52 838 | +3.0% |
| 2011 | 32 579 | +3.4% | 53 823 | +3.3% |
| 2012 | 33 173 | +1.8% | 54 968 | +2.2% |
| 2013 | 33 355 | +0.5% | 55 543 | +2.3% |
| 2014 | 33 383 | +0.1% | 56 147 | +1.6% |
| 2015 | 33 660 | +0.8% | 56 343 | +1.3% |
“(These are) examples of just some of the things that have gone right since 1994,” the IRR said.
“This makes the point that as we face the future, we must not lose sight of the fact that life in South Africa today is better than it was twenty years ago. In many areas it is a lot better.”
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