That Kenya is an unequal society is not in question. The gap between the few very rich and the many very poor is wide. The 2010 Global Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme ranked Kenya 103 out of the total 169 countries surveyed – making it the 66th most unequal country in the world.
What is not clear is how fast the inequality gap is widening. A publication by the Society for International Development titled ‘Pulling Apart: Facts and Figures on Inequality in Kenya’ published back in 2004 painted a disturbing picture of growing inequality.
Steady advances in human development in sub-Saharan Africa could stall and even reverse unless bold steps are taken to reduce environmental risks and inequalities in the region and around the world, says the 2011 Human Development Report, released by the United Nations Development Programme
MENA’s relatively stable equality profile has long been maintained by low income disparities, but inequality as such remains an underlying social factor, which was well documented by the uprising against the autocratic ex-President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The current situation of economic inequality is likely to deteriorate in the wake of new and ongoing socio-political upheavals around the region.
|Tackling inequality in Uganda entails a comprehensive development framework that puts people’s participation in the economic growth process at the centre. People must be viewed as agents of economic growth and transformation and not passive recipients of social services and/or handouts from either development partners or their own government|
Structural poverty, exacerbated by falling employment, has dogged South Africa since 1994. Subsequently unemployment has officially increased from around one fifth of the active workforce, to a quarter today. The unofficial “expanded” and probably more realistic level of unemployment is closer to 40%. This issue, more than any other, threatens the fundamental stability of our nation.
Angola’s growing middle-class has opened up prospects for investment in the highest real estate segment as supply is insufficient to meet the market’s needs and is focused on the highest segments in Luanda.
Inequality is not only the income gap between the rich and poor. It entails differences in access to education, health, access and enjoyment of political rights and representation.
There are three foundational issues that need to be understood for a debate on inequality to be useful. First, there is the distinction between poverty and inequality. These are distinct but related concepts. Poverty entails the inability of a person to afford the basic needs for living. It is therefore a measure of the levels of well-being seen from the perspective of a pre-defined threshold, the so-called poverty line. Inequality entails the differences in well-being, that is, how distinct are two people or families, one from the other, whether poor or rich.
Secondly, inequality does not just mean the income gap between the rich and poor. It entails differences in access to education, health, access and enjoyment of political rights and representation.