Rising Social and Economic Inequality in Africa
Hello Africa
Social and economic inequality have been identified as the major cause of social issues, and societal troubles and challenges in Africa. Some scholars see inequality as a positive and fair outcome and feel that as long as people are able to live a just and decent life, inequality is not a problem to the society. The argument is that the best way to make unequal things equal is to completely breakdown the fabric of the society, by eliminating the wealth of the rich and make everyone poor.
Inequality is characterized by the existence of unequal rewards for the different social classes and positions within individuals or society. Inequality includes recurring models of unequal allocation of goods, opportunities, and incentives. Social inequality includes the existence of unequal rewards and opportunities for varied classes and social groups or society.
The most used method of economic inequality is the Gini Coefficient. This measures the level of inequality across the society at large, rather than between different income groups. In this case if all the wealth or income of a country is allocated to one individual, then the Gini Coefficient is 1, if the wealth levels are shared equally, and everyone gets exactly the same amount, then the Coefficient is 0. The lower the calculated Gini values, the lower the levels of inequality. Most sub-Saharan African countries have high Gini Coefficients. Most OECD countries have lower values which shows an unequal society. The lower the values, the higher the levels of equality.
Africa has not done much to reduce the prevailing levels of social and income inequality. In comparison to the other regions of the world, Africa is the poorest continent, the second most unequal in the world, and she has done little to bridge the widening gap between the rich and poor. Africa is rife with corruption, and this is one of the major reasons social and economic inequality is prevalent. Other factors include, the unequal access to public resources, restricted access to land, markets, and capital goods. There is also the deliberate and unjust distribution of resources and opportunities among social classes of people in African societies. Oxfam (2019, reported that the richest 0.0001 percent own over 40 percent of the entire wealth of Africa. Africa population is estimated at 1.4 billion at 2021, and it is reported that the three richest billionaires have more wealth than over 700 million of the population.
Human nature is in constant pursuit of equality, and in the real world, equality is rare and non-existent.
Individuals and nations of the world have made efforts to promote ways and strategies to reduce the incidence and levels of social and economic inequality. The concept of inequality provides some levels of psychological and emotional discomfort, and the idea of making unequal things equal provides more levels of discomfort to the individuals and nations of Africa, in particular, and the world at large. Inequality exists in all social and economic fabrics of the society. Governments and nations have made concerted efforts to reduce the extent and impacts of social and economic inequality, and billions of dollars have been committed to reducing high levels of economic inequality, as this is one of the major factors responsible for ill-health, spending on healthcare, and decrease in the educational performance of the poor in the society.
Inequality is bad for a society, and societies with high levels of inequality experience higher conflicts, social and economic injustice, and social ills. Studies have shown that, in a cross-national comparison, nations with higher income and economic gap between the rich and poor have higher social ills. Inequality creates friction and weaker social bonds and relationships amongst the people of Africa.
Global Peace Index (2020)
The figure above shows 20 countries from 6 continents with varied Gini and Global Peace Indices. Australia with a Gini index of 0.38 has a Peace Index of 1.389, US: 0.43 and 2.307, and South Africa: 0.65 and 2.317. The analysis shows countries with higher inequality ranked lower in the global peace index, and 2020 findings depicts a less peaceful world since 2008. By contrast, the world’s least peaceful nations have experienced lower levels of peacefulness in the last 10 years, and the world generally has become less peaceful, in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. This trend has been attributed to social conflicts, demonstrations, political instability, and terrorism impact.
OXFAM (2021) reported that the inequality virus is proving as deadly as the corona virus of 2019. In the global economy resulting from the pandemic, 1,000 of the richest people recovered their losses within nine months, and it could take over ten years for the world’s poorest to recover from the impact of Covid-19. 43.5 percent of the global wealth is controlled by 1 percent of the population, 83.9 of the wealth is controlled by 12.4 percent of those with over $100,000, and individuals with less than $10,000 and make up 53.6 percent of the world’s population, controls 1.4 percent of the wealth. The report also indicate that the total wealth by ten of the world’s richest men is more than the combined wealth of many countries.
Income inequality varies widely across regions of the world. Report indicate that it is lowest in Europe and highest in the Middle East. Since the 1980s income inequality has risen sharply in North America, Russia, India, and China, and has grown moderately in Europe. In sub-Saharan Africa income inequality among the highest in the world. Rising inequality is affecting over 75 percent of the global population. United Nations (2020) reported that this rising inequality is aggravating the risks of divisions and impeding economic and social development.
Around the world, globalization, migration, and technological growth have helped reduce global inequality. Emerging economies, and the sustained growth in GDP of BRICS countries has also helped to reduce inequality around the world. Policies aimed at improving economic and social well-being, expanding opportunities, and reducing poverty have been instrumental in giving millions around the world a good chance of a bright future. Inequality comes with a huge social and economic costs.
The unequal access to education and health, distribution of social goods and services is negatively impacting social integration which often results in general disaffection, social vices, and high crime rates in Africa. Generally, inequality is not good for the economic, social and political cohesion of a nation. In developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, higher levels of inequality reduce productivity growth, but tend to raise economic growth in advanced and richer countries in Asia, North America, and Europe.
Africa can do more to combat the high level of social and economic inequality by reducing restrictions on access to land, combating corruption, equal access to public resources and capital goods and markets, and free access to education and healthcare.
Enoma Ojo
enomaojo.blogspot.com
Comments
Post a Comment