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South Africa is by most measures one of the most unequal countries in the world.

This is a clear legacy of colonialism and apartheid, where minority rule was premised on the racial exclusion of the majority of the country from ownership and participation in the economy.

The pandemic has further increased the wealth gap over the past year as the economy took a dive, and many lost their jobs.

The World Inequality Database has updated its data for South Africa and elsewhere with a tool that lets you calculate how wealthy you are compared to others in your country.

According to Salary Explorer, the average monthly salary in South Africa in 2021 is roughly R31 000 before tax. Using that figure, we tested out the tool.

Obviously, that is nowhere near the real figure (which will become clear shortly), but for illustrative purposes, we will use that as a starting point.

The fictional person we’re using here is single with no dependents.

Having clicked the ‘start’ button and selected ‘South Africa’ as the country of choice, the tool asks you to enter all income sources of the members of your household before income tax.

You’re then required to list the number of adults in your household:

The tool then tells you where you fit into the grand scheme of things.

The average salary situates you within the richest 11% of the country, with 89% of the population earning less than you.

If we add three adult dependants (let’s say elderly parents and a spouse) who aren’t contributing to the household income, the results look like this:

This still places you in the richest 30%.

Note that the tool doesn’t take children into account, and judging by what you’ll pay in school fees if you want to secure a private education for your child, that salary is going to take a bit of a knock.

You can break it down further by entering whether or not you own a home, and what the rent would be on the property if you were leasing it out among other things.

By the way, if you use a tool designed by the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), you’ll find even more alarming results about what the average South African makes.

As of December last year, South Africa was home to 44 605 dollar millionaires, but that number is expected to grow by 2025.

In terms of multi-millionaires, the country is home to 742 very wealthy individuals (individuals with a net worth of over $30 million).

You can access the tool here.

[source:worldinequalitydatabase]