Economy and Economic Inequality

Economic indicators highlight the economic strength of a country (Gross Domestic Product(GDP)/GDP per capita), its economic dynamics (real growth of GDP) and thus also their potential to develop into human development. As one can see easily, Botswana and South Africa are middle income countries, whereas Namibia has a relatively low and Lesotho an extremely low income. An economy is (in most cases) quite developed, when the agrarian sector’s share of the GDP is quite small.

A different story is told by the “Quintile income ratio” (ratio of average income of the richest 20% of the population to the average income of the poorest 20% of the population). This indicator highlights, how much of its income a nation invests into the poorer sectors of society – although a low quintile income ratio doesn’t necessarily translate into better human development. Income inequality in all of the four basin states belongs to the highest in the world; Namibia is the country with, by far, the highest income inequality worldwide. In comparison, Norway has a quintile income ratio of 3,9, Germany of 4,3.