SA in Numbers # 2 – Infrastructure, Health and Technology

2017 # 2: SA in numbers – Infrastructure, Health and Technology – compared to the rest of the World:

Nathanael West “Numbers constitute the only universal language.”

Every year the Economist ‘Pocket World in Figures’ brings out a varied set of global rankings covering 190 countries. These range from fastest-growing economies to highest per capita consumption of marijuana to which countries imprison the most people.

And every year the measures are changed – somewhat! It makes for interesting reading!

by Steuart Pennington

The stats in red have been added this year. Some have been removed from last year, all have been updated for 2017.

(The Economist tends to rank the top 1-50 best and the bottom 1 – 50 worst (sometimes the range is less), very often SA in not placed in either, that’s what this newsletter will reflect, unless I can find out more via Google)

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.

So, in this three-part series I will:

• Firstly, cover the numbers: Geography, Population and Economy (June 21).
• Secondly, cover the numbers: Infrastructure, Health and Technology (June 27).
• Thirdly, cover the numbers: People, Crime and Environment (July 4).
• Fourthly, conclude with comments (July 11).

Country Facts 2014	SA Ranking/ countries surveyed	Comment
Infrastructure
Largest Road Networks in km’s	SA 10/190 @ 870,979 kms	USA (1 @ 6 646 594 kms), Australia (9 @ 872,848kms), UK (16 @421,126kms) Germany (12 @ 643,675kms)
Most crowded Road Networks – number of vehicles per km	SA not in top 50/190 SA estimated @ 14 vehicles per km.	Japan (1 @628), UK (21 @88), Germany (27@74), Greece (44@55)
Highest car ownership	SA not in top 50 SA @ 175 cars per 1000 pop) Up from 113 in 2010	Puerto Rico (1 @ 805 cars per 1000 pop), Luxembourg (2), NZ (6), Australia (11), USA (36 @ 375), UK (16 @ 514) Lowest: Ethiopia @ 1 per 1000
Highest car production	SA 27/190 @ 550 000 units improvement	China (1 @ 20m), Japan (2), Germany (3 @ 5m),Australia (30 @ 124 000)
Cars sold (new registrations)	SA 22/190 SA @ 439 000 in 2014 Down from 483 000 in 2012	China (1 @ 19 708k), USA (2), UK (9), Australia (20 @ 532k)
Road Deaths per 100 000 pop	SA 36/190 @ 25 deaths ie. +/- 13 500 per annum	Libya (1 @ 73) Mozambique (10 @ 31) Vietnam (38 @ 24,5)
Most Air Travel – million passenger km per annum 2014	SA 31/190 SA @ 17 m passenger per annum	USA (1 @ 762m), UK (125m), Australia (67m), NZ (15m)
Longest Railway Networks in 1000 km’s	SA 13/190 SA@20 300 kms (Decline from 6th as a result of closures)	USA (1 @ 228k), UK (18 @ 15k), Australia (8 @ 33k), Egypt (31 @ 5k)
Most Rail Freight in millions of tons	SA 9/190 SA @ 134,600m tons per annum	USA (1 @ 2 524 585m), Australia (12 @ 59 649m), France (15 @32 012m)
Most Tourism Arrivals	SA 33/190 SA @ 9.3m tourists 2014 – 3rd fastest growing tourism globally	France (1 @ 84m), USA (2@75m), Spain (3@64m), UK (8@32m), Australia (46 @ 6m)
Health
Life Expectancy 2010 – 2015,	SA @ 61.1 years Improvement, up from 54 in 2010 World average 71	Monaco @ 89, Japan @ 84 India @ 66, Zimbabwe @ 60, Lesotho @ 49, Nigeria @ 52,
Highest death rates – deaths per 1000 of population	SA 19/190 @ 12.6	Lithuania 1 @ 16, Russia 8 @ 14.3, Hungary 10 @ 13.6
Highest Infant Mortality – deaths per 1000 live births	Not in top 40/190 SA approx. 40 per 1000 live births	Angola (1 @ 88), Nigeria (9 @68), Zim (43 @ 39)
TB incidence per 100 000 population	SA 2/190 @ 696 incidence per 100k of pop. Down from 1003 in 2012	Swaziland (1 @ 1349), Zimbabwe (6 @ 562), Kenya (24 @ 272)
HIV/Aids deaths per 100 000 pop	SA 3/190 @ 370	Lesotho (1 @ 778), Zim (2 @ 451), Bahamas (14 @ 144)
Obesity % of pop. 18 and over	SA not in top 25, estimated that 68% of women are ‘overweight’ (not obese) compared to 31% of men	Qatar 1 @ 40%, USA 8 @ 32%, Australia 19 @ 28%,
Hunger Index	SA not in worst 25	Burundi (1), India (15), North Korea (25)
Doctors per 1000 of pop.	SA not in worst 20 @ 1 per 1000	Australia @ 3.5, Nigeria @ 0,5, 16 African countries in worst 20
Highest divorce rates per 1000 pop	SA not in top 50/190 SA estimated at 0.4% (+/- 24 000 divorces p.a.)	Russia (2 @ 4.5), USA (13 @ 2.5), Australia (24 @ 2.1), UK (28 @ 2)
Average household size, people	SA not in top 20 SA at 3.4 people 3.8 in 2001	Biggest: Guinea (1 with 9.6 people), Mali (18 with 6) Smallest: Germany @ 2, UK @ 2.5
Cost of living (highest) using US as the base = US$100	SA not in top 25 highest	Singapore (1 @ 116) Japan (9 @ 97), Australia (14 @ 90), UK (5 @ 101), NZ (22 @ 80), Germany (25 @ 78)
Cost of Living (lowest) using US as the base = US$100	SA 12th lowest @ 50/100	Zambia (1 @ 41/100), India (5 @ 45) Brazil and Russia (15 @ 53)
Technology
Telephone lines per 100 people	Not in top 40/190	Germany (8), UK (11), USA (26)
Computer per 100 people	Not in top 50/190	Hong Kong (1 @ 336), UK (10 @ 184), Germany (16 @ 150)
Mobile subscribers per 100 people	SA 22/190 (SA improved from 35, now @ 149 per 100 people)	Macau (1 @ 322), UAE (5 @ 178). Botswana (10 @ 167) Australia (46 @ 131) USA not in top 50
Internet uses per 100 pop	SA not in top 50, estimated @ 50%	Iceland (1 @ 98%), UK (12 @ 91%) USA (17 @ 87%).
Daily Newspapers, copies per 1000 population	SA not in top 30 @ 50. SA estimated @ 40	Luxembourg (1 @ 709), UK (17 @ 188), France / USA (24 @ 143)
Cinema attendance	SA 28/190 @ 20m visits	India (1 @ 2,117m) USA (2 @ 1270m) China (3 @ 830m) UK (9 @ 157m)
Press Freedom: 1 most free Source: Reporters without Borders	SA 31/190 Up from 39 in 2015	Norway (1), Germany (16), Australia (19), UK (40) USA (43), Russia (148)

So, if you are interested in ‘numbers’ then I invite you to make of these stats what you will.

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 I come across every day, especially in our print media:

• Informed, factual and specific,
• Rumoured, uninformed and crass
• Biased, prejudiced or just plain racist

There are three sources of opinion; fact, rumour and prejudice. The truth can only be found in the first. There are three elements to a story; accuracy, context and balance. Truthful stories contain all three. There are three requirements for understanding; trust, honesty and respect. Without them opinion and truth count for little.(Steuart Pennington 2013)

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 ………….blah, blah, blah!”.

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.

Why do we obsess with bus accidents in Bangladesh which we (the SABC) feel that it is vital to know of when there are ‘some’ good things happening here, which NEVER make the news.

Check out www.sagoodnews.co.za for evidence of that.

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.

And if it’s bad news, and true, try, if you can, to do something about it.

NEXT WEEK: People, Crime, Environment.