South Africa has exceptionally high levels of inequality. As someone who studies issues of inequality and sustainability, I have argued before that South Africa’s income inequality is the highest of all countries that have data on this. This means that the gap between the rich and the poor is wider than in any other country.
While South Africa is somewhat exceptional, income inequality within countries has been growing across the world.
The most recent data suggests that income inequality between countries has been falling, but this is largely due to the rising incomes of people in China, who make up a large part of the global population.
