South Africa has the continent’s biggest economy, and its effective governance and high quality of regulation form a solid foundation that supports well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors. The country is a leading exporter of minerals, and tourism is another key source of foreign exchange.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the country’s excellent regulatory quality scores, the cost of starting a business is low, which encourages entrepreneurship. Relative to most other African nations in the Index, South Africa’s population is also well educated, averaging 2.67 years of secondary education.
However, the economy has some obvious weaknesses. The commercialisation of innovation in the form of high-tech exports accounts for just 0.5% of GDP, which is below average for an economy of this size. The low number of researchers engaged in R&D as a proportion of the workforce casts doubt on the availability of highly-skilled human capital, although the country’s high number of patents is a positive sign.
As a middle-income emerging market, with an abundant supply of natural resources, South Africa has avoided dependence on revenues from exports of commodities, which account for only 4.1% of GDP. However, further diversification is hampered by low levels of capital investment per worker in South Africa, which constrain productivity growth in the industrial sectors in particular.
|
|
So far, post-apartheid South Africa has benefited from a stable political environment in which, for the most part, the provision of political rights and civil liberties is good. However, income levels remain low, and this has a pervasively negative influence on other aspects of life satisfaction. A high level of unemployment, which stands at 25.6%, also hurts average wellbeing. Despite this, there is optimism: 90%g of South Africans believe they can get ahead through hard work.
South Africa’s largest challenge is perhaps in its public health. It is surprising that 78%g of South Africans claim to be satisfied with their health, when average health-adjusted life expectancy is a low 44.3 years -- above average for sub-Saharan nations in the Index, but extremely poor by global standards. This is due in large part to high mortality levels from HIV/AIDS, which have been exacerbated by a lack of public education and complicated by controversial claims by the government regarding the treatment and spread of the disease. In addition, South Africans are pessimistic about their ability to control their own lives. Only 64%g report satisfaction with their freedom of choice, according to the Gallup World Poll.
There are a number of significant ameliorating factors that raise South Africa’s Comparative Liveability considerably. There is a high level of religious faith. Furthermore, the proportion of women in parliament -- an indicator that demonstrates an important role for women in society, and tends to correlate strongly with increased life satisfaction for the population as a whole -- is high at 30%.
|