Income share of the poorest 20% — all countries

Income share of the poorest 20% — South Africa

Income share of the poorest 20% in South Africa in 2022 — 3.7%. Ranked 71 in the world out of 73. Since 1993, the indicator has risen by 0.8 pp.

2022 3.7% +0.9 pp vs 2014
World rank 71of 73
Period maximum 3.7%2022
Period minimum 2.6%2005

Trend over time

1993–2022 · % of income

Income share of the poorest 20% — South Africa, 1993–20222.533.54199319961999200220052008201120142017202020221993: 2.9%2000: 3.1%2005: 2.6%2008: 2.6%2010: 2.7%2014: 2.8%2022: 3.7%
Change over the period: +0.8 pp Annual average: 0.03 pp
Income share of the poorest 20% — South Africa, by year South Africa All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2022 3.7 —
2014 2.8 —
2010 2.7 —
2008 2.6 —
2005 2.6 —
2000 3.1 —
1993 2.9 —

About the indicator

The share of total income or consumption that goes to the poorest twenty percent of the population. Under complete equality it would be twenty percent; in the most equal countries it comes to about nine, in the most unequal to about three. The indicator reads more plainly than the Gini index: instead of collapsing the whole distribution into a single number, it says outright how much goes to those who get the least.

Important: There are no aggregates for country groups: the top and bottom quintiles of a group are not a union of national quintiles, and they cannot be computed from country shares. The same reason as with the Gini index.

Source: World Development Indicators (World Bank), license CC BY 4.0.