by Steuart Pennington
Every year the Economist brings out a varied set of global rankings covering 190 countries. These range from fastest-growing economies to highest divorce rates to which countries imprison the most people. It makes for interesting reading!
There are 230 countries in the world, only 190 are ‘serious enough’ to provide data, and only 80 have a population of more than 10 million.
In a three-part series of newsletters, I will:
- Firstly, cover some of the basics – which may surprise.
- Secondly, cover the areas where you may expect South Africa to be ranked either amongst the best or the worst - but aren’t.
- Thirdly, cover the areas where you may not expect South Africa to be ranked amongst the best or the worst - but are.
So, to start with some of the basics, which I am sure you know – but maybe you don’t.
| Country Facts – the BASICS | SA Ranking/countries surveyed | SA – the Good News Comment |
| Geography | ||
| Area by ‘000 Km² | SA 25/190 | 8 African countries are larger than SA, however Nigeria with pop. of 150m is 32nd |
| Population | ||
| Population size in 2009 | SA 24/190 | 4 African countries are greater, Nigeria is 8th |
| Population size projected to 2050 | Not in top 30/190 | 7 African countries in top 30, Nigeria is 5th |
| Fastest growing population | Not in top 50/190 | 29 African countries in top 50, Nigeria 38th |
| 100 Biggest Cities | Johannesburg 91/100 | Lagos (15), Cairo (17), Kinshasa (21), Khartoum (47), Luanda (47), Alexandria (66), Nairobi (78), Dar-es-Salaam (81), all larger African cities. |
| Livability index (*) where 1 is worst and 221 best. Livability has to do with physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure time, and social belonging – not standard of living. | Johannesburg 90/221 cities, Cape Town 86/221 cities | Harare (1) and Lagos (4) feature in the worst 10 of 221 cities surveyed |
| Biggest immigrant population | Not in top 20/190 | USA (1), Russia (2), Germany (3), UK (6) and Australia (9) |
| Biggest emigrant population | Not in top 20/190 | Mexico (1), China (4) and USA (19) |
| Countries with largest refugee populations | Not in top 20/190 | Pakistan (1), Germany (4), USA (9), UK (10) and Canada (18) |
| Economy | ||
| Biggest Economies as measured by US$ GDP | SA 32/190 | USA (1), Nigeria (45), No other African countries featured |
| Biggest Economy based on purchasing power (PPP) | SA 25/190 | USA (1), Egypt (26), Nigeria (34) |
| GDP per head (* 1 is best) | SA 78/181 | 20 African countries in bottom 30/181 |
| Human Development Index (* 1 is best) | SA 123/187 | 20 African countries in bottom 30/187 |
| Gini Coefficient, 1 is worst | SA 7/13 | Namibia (1), Brazil (10) |
| Economic Freedom (* 1 is best) | SA 70/182 | No African country in top 60/185 |
| Highest Economic Growth (* 1 is best) | SA 108/185 | 15 African countries in top 50/185 |
| Lowest Economic Growth | World Average 3.7SA 3.4 | Italy, Germany, Japan, France, Switzerland, UK, USA, Canada, Swaziland all below SA and in bottom 40/185 |
| Biggest exporters | SA 40/180 | Euro (1), USA (2), Australia (24), Portugal (41) |
| Government Debt | Not in top 30 worst/190 | Japan (1), USA (9), UK (14), NZ (28), Australia (30) |
| Government spending as % of GDP | Not in top 30 most/190 | Ireland (1), UK (9), NZ (24), USA (25) |
| House price improvement over the last five years, 1 is best | SA 1/190 | Australia (2), UK (3), NZ (9), USA (14) |
| Foreign Debt highest | SA 29/142 | China (1), Russia (2), Brazil (3) |
| Largest Industrial Output | SA 29/142 | USA (1), China (2), Egypt (32), Singapore (42) |
| Largest Services Output | SA 28/142 | USA (1), Japan (2), UK (6), Argentina (27), Egypt (40) |
| Largest Consumers of Energy | SA 20/142 | USA (1), UK (12), Australia (21), Nigeria (22) |
| Largest Market Capitalisation | SA 15/142 | USA (1), UK (4), Australia (9), Egypt (43) |
| Largest gains in global Stock Markets | SA 11/142 | USA (19), Australia (27), UK (34), China (43) |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Largest Road Networks in km’s | SA 18/142 | USA (1), Australia (9), UK (16) |
| Most crowded Road Networks | Not ranked in top 50/142 | Kuwait (1), UK (19), Germany (30), Japan (42) |
| Most Air Travel | SA 28/142 | USA (1), UK (3), Australia (9), NZ (26) |
| Longest Railway Networks in km’s | SA 12/142 | USA (1), UK (8), Australia (23), Egypt (30) |
| Most Rail Freight in tons | SA 9/142 | China (1), USA (2), Australia (11), France (15), Japan (18) |
| Most Tourism Arrivals | SA 30/142 | France (1), USA (2), Spain (3), UK (6), Australia (39) |
| Health | ||
| Lowest Life Expectancy, 1 is worst | SA 20/190 | Afghanistan (1), Nigeria (7), Zimbabwe (14) |
| Highest Infant Mortality | Not in top 45/190 | Angola (2), Nigeria (4), India (43) |
| Cancer deaths per 100,000 population | Not in top 25/190 | Hungary (1), Germany (10), UK (12), Australia (23) |
| TB incidence per 100,000 population | SA 2/190 | Swaziland (1), Zimbabwe (3), Rwanda (17) |
| HIV/Aids Prevalence | SA 4/190 | Swaziland (1), Nigeria (17), Bahamas (23) |
| Obesity % Male population | Not ranked in top 25/190 | USA (3), Ireland (4), Australia (10), Germany (21) |
| Obesity % Female population | SA 14/190 | USA (9), NZ (15), UK (17) |
| Highest Divorce Rates | Not in top 50/190 | Russia (6), USA (15), UK (19), NZ (24) |
| Lowest Divorce Rates | SA 26/190 | Vietnam (2), Italy (19), Spain (26) |
| Technology | ||
| Telephone lines per 100 | Not in top 40/142 | Swaziland (5), UK (16), USA (24) |
| Computer per 100 people | Not in top 50/142 | Canada (1), UK (5), USA (7), Portugal (50) |
(*) SA ranking sourced from Google, mostly from the Global Competitiveness Report in which 142 countries are ranked and where 1 is best and 142 worst
So, if you are interested in ‘numbers’ then I invite you to make of these stats what you will.
Worst/best in the world
The thing that most interests me is the frequency with which we read that SA ranks amongst the "worst in the world". We hear it all the time:
- Our crime is the worst in the world
- Our violent crime is the worst in the world
- Our schools are the most violent in the world
- Our incidence of foetal alcohol syndrome is the worst in the world
- Our divorce rates are amongst the highest in the world
- Our obesity is amongst the worst in the world
- Our infant mortality is amongst the highest in the world
- Our unemployment is the highest in the world
- Our corruption is the worst in the world
It appears that none of these things are true. I even heard
- That more South Africans eat boerewors than any other country in the world
I googled it – this is true, but none of the rest are!
People often say "lies, damn lies and statistics". But if you don’t start with the numbers where do you start? With opinion? With rumour? With hearsay? With media distortion?
There are three types of opinion,
- Informed and specific,
- uninformed and generalised
- biased or prejudiced
How intensely annoying is it to be told "that’s my opinion and I’m entitled to it" when ignorance or prejudice is at the heart of the ‘opinion’ ..........and you have the facts.
How infuriating is it to be told something, you point out the facts and the response is "I don’t care about the facts, I’m telling you..............".
Whenever I read that SA is the "worst in the world", I Google it, there are global surveys on just about everything. Three things emerge:
- First, there are very few surveys that go beyond 80 countries (out of 230)
- Second, countries are cagey about their bad stats. (try and find out about tourist murders on a country by country basis, or foetal alcohol syndrome, or rape.....)
- Third, information is hard to come by, for example most countries only report on crime stats every five years and very few put them into the public domain.
But the key issue is the narrative, how we talk about our country, how the media reports, what we hear on the news. According to Media Tenor we have amongst the most negative media, dare I say it, "in the world".
So please, if you read or hear something that you suspect as being untrue, google it, establish the facts, and then write to the offending media source, tweet it, facebook it....embarrass the offending editor.
As Ferial Haffajee of City Press reminds us:
The narrative of dysfunction that is still dominant in descriptions of South Africa are entirely misplaced and, personally, nauseating. It is also deeply self-serving.
