The 2011 census results released on October 30, show strides in 18 years of black majority rule.

Statistics from South Africa’s 2011 census released on October 30 show marked improvements in household incomes of black people. Quoting the figures, the BBC said incomes had increased by nearly 170 per cent since 1994 when Apartheid ended and blacks took over the running of the country.

Similarly, the average household income in South Africa has more than doubled in the past decade, according to the census, which said that households earned an average of 48,000 Rand (about FCFA 2.8 million) per year in 2001, compared to 103,204 Rand (about FCFA 6 million) by October 2011.

Other strides include the number of homes with flush toilets increasing from 50 per cent in 2001 to 57 per cent in 2011 and the number of people who have completed higher education rising by 11.8 per cent as against 8.4 per cent in 2001. On the other hand, the number of homes with electricity increased from 58.2 per cent in 1996 to 84.7 per cent in 2011, the report says. Mobile phone ownership rose from less than 32 per cent a decade ago to nearly 90 per cent last year.

However, the figures show that white South Africans now earn six times more than blacks. Reacting to the results, President Jacob Zuma acknowledged that much remains to be done to reduce the disparities between the rich and poor, the AP news agency said. He said in spite of progress made since 1994, the black majority continue to be confronted by problems of deep poverty, unemployment and inequality.

Planning Minister, Trevor Manuel said the income distribution among race and gender groups presented the government with an enormous challenge. As at October 2011, the average annual income for black households was 60,613 Rand (about FCFA 3.5 million) as against 365,134 Rand (about FCFA 21 million) for white households.

In order to address the situation, President Zuma announced a national development plan to eliminate poverty, reduce inequality and address the problem of unemployment. Under the plan, the poor should be able to have a toilet, clean water, food, stable housing and heating by 2030. On the other hand, each community will have a school, library, teachers, a police station with ‘upright’ police and a health clinic with nurses.

South Africa's population has increased by 7 million people to 51.8 million between 2001 and October 2011. People of mixed race now number 4.62 million, whites 4.59 million, blacks over 41 million, while Indians and Asians make up 1.3 million.