Rising remuneration among Black South Africans has dramatically changed the racial makeup of the country’s band of middle- and top-income earners over the course of three decades of democratic rule, a new study has found.

About 41% of White households made more than R75 000 a month in 2024, down from 61% in 2012, while the proportion of Black households in that bracket climbed to 41% from 29% over the period, the study by the University of Cape Town’s Liberty Institute of Strategic Marketing found. It based its analysis on data from the national statistics agency’s general household survey.

The shift underscores how economic disparities can narrow, even in societies shaped by deep, institutionalised inequality. The lesson is particularly pertinent in South Africa, where the Black majority was systematically discriminated against during colonial and apartheid rule, race and earnings were once inseparable and millions still live in grinding poverty.

The analysis of the income data gives policymakers and investors a window into how changing demographic and labour-market dynamics are reshaping wealth distribution and may serve as an indicator of South Africa’s longer-term economic trajectory and growth potential.

In their report titled Social Class in South Africa, the Liberty Institute’s researchers divided households into income bands largely aligned with government-defined thresholds, including those used to determine eligibility for social grants. Their findings show Black households now account for a larger share of the working and middle classes than their White counterparts.

The number of Black South Africans in the middle- and upper-income brackets — defined as those earning more than R22 000 rand a month — quadrupled to more than 7-million in 2024 from 2012, the researchers said. Overall, the total number of people in those income groups rose to more than 11-million, from about 4-million over the same period.

“One of the critiques will be that it has not happened fast enough,” said Paul Egan, the institute’s director. “But when we look at income and who is getting it, it’s one of the bright stories in terms of how things have transformed.”

Even so, the gains at the upper echelons of the wealth ladder mask persistent strain at the bottom. Black South Africans predominate the ranks of the poor and working poor, and the proportion of them in that category are increasing, the study shows.