Africa’s emerging middle class continues to drive growth and democracy

Reflecting change in post-apartheid South Africa, recent research by the University of Cape Town Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing shows the black middle class there has more than doubled in eight years to 4.2 million in 2012, and its annual spending has overtaken its white counterpart group.

“The growth in this country, both economically and certainly in terms of spending power, comes from the black middle class,” Unilever Institute Director John Simpson told reporters.

He said the ANC administration, which had long focused on the poor masses as its core voting base, was now being forced to pay more attention to the black middle class – which it has also helped create through affirmative action policies.

Source: Reuters

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