r flag of the Netherlands, which has three equal horizontal
bands of orange (top), white, and blue; the miniature flags are a
vertically hanging flag of the old Orange Free State with a horizontal
flag of the UK adjoining on the hoist side and a horizontal flag of
the old Transvaal Republic adjoining on the other side

Economy

Economy - overview: Despite the efforts of South Africa's first
majority-run government, income inequality remains among the world's
most extreme. Many of the white one-seventh of the South African
population enjoy incomes, material comforts, and health and
educational standards equal to those of Western Europe. In contrast,
most of the remaining population suffers from the poverty patterns of
the Third World, including unemployment, lack of job skills, and bleak
living conditions. The main strength of the economy lies in its rich
mineral resources, which provide two-thirds of exports. Economic
developments for the remainder of the 1990s will be driven largely by
the new government's attempts to improve black living standards, to
set the country on a steady export-led growth path, and to cut back
the enormous numbers of unemployed. The economy in recent years has
absorbed less than 5% of the more than 300,000 workers entering the
labor force annually. Local economists estimate that the economy must
grow at least 5% in real terms annually to absorb all of the new
entrants, much less reduce the accumulated total.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $227 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 3% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $5,400 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture : 5%
industry: 37%
services : 58% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 9% (1996 est.)

Labor force:
total: 14.2 million economically active (1996)
by occupation: services 35%, agriculture 30%, industry 20%, mining 9%,
other 6%

Unemployment rate: 34% (1996 est.); note - an additional 11% of the
workforce is underemployed

Budget:
revenues : $30.5 billion
expenditures: $38 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.6
billion (FY94/95 est.)

Industries: mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold,
chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron
and steel, chemical, fertilizer, foodstuffs

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - capacity: 34.57 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production: 158.78 billion kWh (1