What has been happening to income distribution and poverty in the homelands∗

Based on a synthetic sample of Black households and information about employment and incomes, a provisional account is given of the distribution of income between households and poverty in the homelands in 1960, 1970 and 1980. It is concluded that while the majority of households remained poor in 1980 (80 per cent below the urban minimum living level), households above the 30th percentile of the distribution in 1980 were considerably better off in real terms than households at the corresponding percentile in 1960. Below the 30th percentile, however, relative deterioration has taken place and below the 15th percentile absolute deterioration. The massive expansion of homeland population by incorporation of metropolitan townships, resettlement and other immigration, complicates the interpretation of these findings.