Other social assistance initiatives
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Although the flow of official development assistance started increasing just after Independence, it has in practice not served as a major source of financing. Between 1993
and 2008 per capita ODA grew from US2 to US23, an increase from 0.21 per cent to 0.42 per cent of gross national income figure 70. Despite the steady rise in ODA funds,
they clearly lagged behind the volume from which some neighbouring countries benefited during the same period.
Figure 70. South Africa: ODA flows as a percentage of GNI and in per capita terms, 1993-2008
Source: World Bank, 2010.
As to the social sector, South Africa still faces important challenges in terms of poverty and inequality. The country has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world, and
more than four of every ten citizens still live under conditions of poverty. As to human development, South Africa ranked 129th in the Human Development Report 2009, far
below its position in terms of GDP per capita, which is almost double that of Namibia. Yet Namibia ranks one position above South Africa in the Human Development Index. This is
due largely to a low life expectancy index 0.442 for South Africa which is affected by the high prevalence of HIV UNDP, 2009. Roughly 5 million South Africans are living with
HIV. In addition, special challenges face the country with regard to infant and maternal mortality table 14.
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Table 14. South Africa: Socioeconomic indicators, various years
Indicator Year
Result Source
Poverty percentage of the population living on less than US2 a day
2000-2007 42.9
UNDP, 2009. Gini coefficient
2007 57.8
UNDP, 2009. Human Development Index
2007 0.683
UNDP, 2009. Life expectancy at birth
2007 51.5
UNDP, 2009. Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births
2008 45
World Bank, 2010. Maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births
2010 300
World Bank, 2010. HIV and AIDS prevalence percentage of the population
16.9 2007
Shisana et al., 2009. Adult literacy rate percentage
1999-2007 88
UNDP, 2009. Children under-weight for age percentage
1998 15
World Bank, 2010.