Sydafrikas racekløft synes uoverstigelig indtil videre, men der er også opløftende tegn for den nye “Regnbuenation”, for indkomsten hos det store sorte flertal er steget med 170 procent de seneste ti år – mange er dog stadig dybt fattige.
The income of white South African households is six times higher than black ones, new census figures reveal, according to BBC online Wednesday.
President Jacob Zuma said the census showed the black majority is still at the “bottom of the rung”, 18 years after white minority rule ended.
The statistics showed that while the income of black households had increased by nearly 170 per cent in the last decade, they still earned the least.
The population now stands at nearly 52 million, 79 per cent of whom are black people. It has risen by seven million since 2001.
The 2011 census statistics showed that children below the age of five number nearly 11 million, making them the largest age group.
The average annual income of a white household is about 365.000 rand (42.000 US dollar), followed by Indians at 251.000 rand, people of mixed race at 251.500 rand and blacks at 60.600 rand, it showed.
Other key findings include:
* Nearly 30 per cent of the labour force is unemployed
* More than three million children are orphans (forældreløse)
* More than nine million people live in homes while the number of shack-dwellers (slumboer) has risen since 2001 to nearly two million
* The number of people who have completed higher education has increased to 11,8 per cent, from 8,4 per cent in 2001
* The number of homes with electricity has increased from 58,2 per cent in 1996 to 84,7 per cent in 2011
Mr Zuma pledged that by 2030 the African National Congress (ANC) government would make sure that each community had a clinic, school, library and police station.
