East Africa middle class not big enough for investors

[nngu007]

Businesses that have recently ventured into East Africa hoping to cash in on a steadily expanding middle class may have to revise their expectations because the expansion was grossly exaggerated, warns a new report. TEA GRAPHIC

Businesses that have recently ventured into East Africa hoping to cash in on a steadily expanding middle class may have to revise their expectations because the expansion was grossly exaggerated, warns a report.

More people across the region have poor household incomes compared with other regions, according to a report by Standard Bank, making the business plans of realtors, retailers, luxury brands and wealth managers a touch ambitious.

"The bulk (at least in terms of the number of households) of Africa's consumer opportunity, particularly for fast-moving consumer goods firms looking towards the continent, resides within the base of the pyramid market," said the report, Understanding Africa's Middle Class.

It shows that of the approximately 110 million households studied across 11 countries, 94 million (or 86 per cent) of them were located in the low-income category, suggesting poverty levels are as much as two times the figures shown in official records.

Afrika Investment Bank chief executive Paul Mwai said the informal nature of Africa's economies presented a big headache over the accuracy of available data but said businesses should draw comfort from demographics.

"The middle class may be smaller or bigger than previous estimates, but it is growing rapidly due to a relatively young population that is driving consumption levels. Some of the key sectors that are being driven by a growing middle class are housing, clothing and automobiles," Mr Mwai said.

The 11 African countries under study - Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - were found to have only 15 million middle-class households, up from 4.6 million in 2000 and 2.4 million in 1990.

The report is intended to provide a rough idea of the scale, growth and prospects of income growth across some of the continent's most alluring economies, giving multinational corporations the context for engaging with frontier African opportunities.

The report showed that poverty was reducing at a slower pace in countries in East Africa in the past quarter century compared with other countries like Angola, Nigeria and Ghana.

What could further dampen global investor appetite for the previously thought to be fast growing middle class in the region is the fact that as many as nine in 10, or 126 million of the 140 million East Africans live below the poverty line.

"There has been little change in the composition of Uganda's population in income terms in the past decade. Today, 90 per cent of the population lives on or below the poverty line – down from 95 per cent of the population in 2000," the report says.

In Kenya, the rate of household transition out of poverty has remained sluggish since 1990, when 21.2 million Kenyans (91 per cent of the population then) lived on or below the poverty line.

"Today, 38 million Kenyans (83 per cent of the population) reside in this band," the report says, placing 94 per cent of Tanzania's population below the poverty line as well.


The report classifies household incomes into four groups using the Living Standard Measure, which uses the level of spending rather than income as a measure of affluence.

Low-income people are listed as those spending less than $5,500 in a year or $15 per day while the lower middle class spend up to $8,500 annually, or $23 per day.

The middle class spends as much as $42,000 per year or $115 per day and the upper middle class spends more than $42,000 a year.

The report is in sharp contrast to a 2011 African Development Bank's (AfDB) study - "The Middle of the Pyramid: Dynamics of the Middle Class in Africa" - which placed people earning between $4 and $20 a day in the middle class, effectively putting a third of Africa's population (more than 300 million) in the segment, which by virtue of its disposable income drives growth.

In April last year, the joint World Bank and International Monetary Fund Global Monitoring Report 2013put the poor in Kenya at 43.37 per cent of the population and in Uganda at 38.01 per cent based on a poverty line of $1.25 per person.

The line would have left 67.87 per cent of Tanzanians in the poor category as well as 63.17 per cent of Rwandans and 81.32 per cent of Burundians.

The Standard Bank report projects a sluggish drift out of the poverty trap, with three-quarters of the 160 million households across the 11 countries expected to be still in the low income bracket by 2030.

"In the past, the conventional wisdom was that as many as 300 million Africans are categorised as middle class. The report points out that investors using an unquantifiable assumption may find individuals they had thought were middle class were in fact highly likely to lose that status in any economic shock," Standard Bank's senior political economist Simon Freemantle said.

While efforts by East African economies to improve living standards of their households have stagnated over the years, the countries have also fared poorly in the growth of the middle class.

Based on LSM categories, the number of Kenya's middle income households has grown threefold in the past 25 years to 400,000 or four per cent of the population, up from 130,000 in 1990 and 190,000 in 2000. By 2030, when Kenya hopes to have attained middle income status, it is expected the country will be home to 1.1 million middle-class households or eight per cent of the population then.

Uganda's middle class, on the other hand, is classified as "relatively immature" and contains 150,000 households, up from 37,000 in 2000.

The number is expected to increase fourfold to around 615,000 households or 5 per cent of the households by 2030, when the population is expected to be 60 million. The report suggests that despite relatively robust economic growth, Uganda seems mostly unable to provide the income support to accommodate its swiftly growing population.

Tanzania has over 100,000 households in the middle class, translating into just 1 per cent of the population up from fewer than 20,000 middle-class households in the year 2000.

By 2030, it is expected that 400,000 households in Tanzania will join the middle class against the projected population of 80 million people.


Mr Freemantle, who wrote the report, however said investors should be optimistic given the greater scope for future growth and movement of low income households into the middle income status.

"The report forecasts acceleration in the accumulation of middle-class households in Africa," he said.

Source: JOSHUA MASINDE

 

[nngu007]

"Some of the key sectors that are being driven by a growing middle class are housing, clothing and automobiles," Mr Mwai said...

It seems again it is very difficult for them to even measure who's the middleclass in TANGANYIKA kwasababu sisi ni tofauti na nchi hizo zingine kwa kuwa we as people we own LAND!!! so how can they Understanding Africa's Middle Class ??? BOGUS BOGUS !!!

 

[Kibanga Ampiga Mkoloni]

Low-income people are listed as those spending less than $5,500 in a year or $15 per day while the lower middle class spend up to $8,500 annually, or $23 per day.

The middle class spends as much as $42,000 per year or $115 per day and the upper middle class spends more than $42,000 a year.

Kuna kitu hakipo sawa hapo, maana kwa records hizi za kuwa Lowa income ni 15 usd ambayo ni sawa na 25,000/= kwa siku, Ni familia nyingi zinatumia zaidi ya hii lakini ukisema kwa mtu mmoja mmoja kiukweli hiii ni janga la kitaifa.

Inamaana hii hata wafanya kazi wengi wa serekali hata Graduates hawawezi ingia kwenye group hii. Maana 25,000/= kwa siku ni sawa na 750,000/= kwa wmezi na ili uwe na take home kama hii kwa vyovyote mshahara lazima uwe kwenye 1Mil. Ni angapi wenye mshahara huu?


Kibongobongo mtu mwenye uwezo wa kutumia 25,000/= kwa siku nadhani takuwa njema huyu.

By the way kwa wale mnaofaanya akzi posta na miji mingine tukifanya break down hivi hii 25,000/= kwa siku si hela ya mafuta kwenye gari tu ?

 

[Bavaria]

Kilimo kwanza pamoja na ukuaji wa kasi wa viwanda ungesaidia kuchukua asilimia kubwa ya wanaoishi chini ya dola 1

 

[Kibanga Ampiga Mkoloni]

"Some of the key sectors that are being driven by a growing middle class are housing, clothing and automobiles," Mr Mwai said...

It seems again it is very difficult for them to even measure who's the middleclass in TANGANYIKA kwasababu sisi ni tofauti na nchi hizo zingine kwa kuwa we as people we own LAND!!! so how can they Understanding Africa's Middle Class ??? BOGUS BOGUS !!!

Nadhani wanzungumzia SPENDING kaka, ila wansahahu kuwa hata dereva wa boda boda aanuwezo wa kuingiza zaidi ya 20,000/= kwa siku.

 

[nngu007]

Nadhani wanzungumzia SPENDING kaka, ila wansahahu kuwa hata dereva wa boda boda aanuwezo wa kuingiza zaidi ya 20,000/= kwa siku.

Yeah, huyo Mwenye ARDHI kama vile Mkulima wa PAMBA au KAHAWA - Wakiweka expenditures zao; they are More than MIDDLE CLASS...

 

[Kibanga Ampiga Mkoloni]

Yeah, huyo Mwenye ARDHI kama vile Mkulima wa PAMBA au KAHAWA - Wakiweka expenditures zao; they are More than MIDDLE CLASS...

Nakukatalia mkuu wakulima wetu kipato chao ni kidogo sana mkuu ni wachache wenye uwezo wa kutengeneza 5,500Usd kwa mwaka kutoka Shambani. nakumbuka wao wantaka uzitumie hizo 5,500Usd.

 

[MK254]

Eleven African countries involved in the study - Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - were found to have only 15 million middle-class households, up from 4.6 million in 2000 and 2.4 million in 1990. If you think the Tanzanian middle class is growing rapidly, you are wrong, according to a new study.

The study's findings reveal that Tanzania has over 100,000 middle-class households, translating into just 10 per cent of the population, up from fewer than 20,000 middle-class households in the year 2000.

In simple language, the middle class in Tanzania comprises between 4 and 5 million people.

By 2030, it is expected that 400,000 households in Tanzania will join the middle class in a projected population of 80 million.

According to the study conducted by Standard Bank Group, whose findings were released last weekend, the middle class in Tanzania and East Africa is still small and growing at a "very slow" pace.

The findings also revealed that household incomes in East Africa are generally lower than in other regions, making the business plans of realtors, retailers, luxury brands and wealth managers seem ambitious.

"The bulk (at least in terms of the number of households) of Africa's consumer opportunity, particularly for fast-moving consumer goods firms looking towards the continent, resides within the base of the pyramid market," said the report, Understanding Africa's Middle Class.

In Kenya, the rate of household transition out of poverty has remained sluggish since 1990, when 21.2 million Kenyans (91 per cent of the population then) lived on or below the poverty line.

"Today, 38 million Kenyans (83 per cent of the population) reside in this band," the report says, placing 94 per cent of Tanzania's population below the poverty line.

The report classifies household incomes into four groups using the Living Standard Measure, which uses the level of spending rather than income as a measure of affluence.

Low-income people are listed as those spending less than $5,500 in a year, or $15 per day, while the lower middle class spend up to $8,500 annually, or $23 per day.

The middle class spends as much as $42,000 per year, or $115 per day, and the upper middle class spends more than $42,000 a year.

The report shows that of the approximately 110 million households studied across 11 countries, 94 million (or 86 per cent) of them were located in the low-income category, suggesting poverty levels are as much as two times the figures shown in official records.

Afrika Investment Bank chief executive Paul Mwai, said the informal nature of Africa's economies presented a big headache over the accuracy of available data but said businesses should draw comfort from demographics.

"The middle class may be smaller or bigger than previous estimates, but it is growing rapidly due to a relatively young population that is driving consumption levels. Some of the key sectors that are being driven by a growing middle class are housing, clothing and automobiles," Mr Mwai said.

The 11 African countries under study - Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - were found to have only 15 million middle-class households, up from 4.6 million in 2000 and 2.4 million in 1990.

The report is intended to provide a rough idea of the scale, growth and prospects of income growth across some of the continent's most alluring economies, giving multinational corporations the context for engaging with frontier African opportunities.

The report showed that poverty was reducing at a slower pace in countries in East Africa in the past quarter century compared with other countries like Angola, Nigeria and Ghana.

What could further dampen global investor appetite for the previously thought to be fast growing middle class in the region is the fact that as many as nine in 10, or 126 million of the 140 million East Africans live below the poverty line.

"There has been little change in the composition of Uganda's population in income terms in the past decade. Today, 90 per cent of the population lives on or below the poverty line – down from 95 per cent of the population in 2000," the report says.

The report is in sharp contrast to a 2011 African Development Bank's (AfDB) study - The Middle of the Pyramid: Dynamics of the Middle Class in Africa - which placed people earning between $4 and $20 a day in the middle class, effectively putting a third of Africa's population (more than 300 million) in the segment, which by virtue of its disposable income drives growth.

In April last year, the joint World Bank and International Monetary Fund Global Monitoring Report 2013 put the poor in Kenya at 43.37 per cent of the population and in Uganda at 38.01 per cent based on a poverty line of $1.25 per person.

The line would have left 67.87 per cent of Tanzanians in the poor category as well as 63.17 per cent of Rwandans and 81.32 per cent of Burundians. The Standard Bank report projects a sluggish drift out of the poverty trap, with three-quarters of the 160 million households across the 11 countries expected to be still in the low income bracket by 2030.

"In the past, the conventional wisdom was that as many as 300 million Africans are categorised as middle class. The report points out that investors using an unquantifiable assumption may find individuals they had thought were middle class were in fact highly likely to lose that status in any economic shock," Standard Bank's senior political economist Simon Freemantle said.

While efforts by East African economies to improve living standards of their households have stagnated over the years, the countries have also fared poorly in the growth of the middle class.

Based on LSM categories, the number of Kenya's middle income households has grown threefold in the past 25 years to 400,000 or four per cent of the population, up from 130,000 in 1990 and 190,000 in 2000. By 2030, when Kenya hopes to have attained middle income status, it is expected the country will be home to 1.1 million middle-class households or eight per cent of the population then.

Source: thecitizen

 

[nngu007]

Nakukatalia mkuu wakulima wetu kipato chao ni kidogo sana mkuu ni wachache wenye uwezo wa kutengeneza 5,500Usd kwa mwaka kutoka Shambani. nakumbuka wao wantaka uzitumie hizo 5,500Usd.

Wewe Unawajua wakulima wa pamba kama vile kina Jumanne Kishimba walipotokea na kuwahudumia ? Au Umeenda Mbeya IRINGA na KILIMANJARO ukaona Mendeleo ya wakulima wao? Wazee hawjasoma lakini watoto wote wa kiume na kike wamepata ELIMU ana nyumba nzuri na umeme na gari la kubeba majani ya Ng'ombe...

Lakini ni nani MZUNGU kama wewe atakayekwenda huko Mashambani kuwaona hao MIDDLE CLASS?

Wanataka hao MIDDLE CLASS wawe tayari na CREDID CARDS; Umeona hiyo ni kukupa namba na kuanza kukufanya wewe MTUMWA... ndio maana NYERERE akasema CHUKUA ARDHI hakuna atakayekuwewesa

Angalia kila sensa kama hizo wanaiweka TZ ya MWISHO sababu wanajua wakifika kijiji chochote wanapikiwa UGALI na MLENDA bure na ni huyo mkulima kazalisha bure... sasa hapo wao kwa majedwali yao hakuna kitu kama hicho... it is shocking - walimuita Masikini sasa watamuita nani huyo mtu... Ana kibanda chake cha UDONGO, ARDHI yake Mazao Mengine anauza... Hana hizo credit cards but happy camper...

Ni Vizuri hawaijui Middle Class yetu sababu wakijua hiyo IDADI ndio hapo watakapoanza ku-fluctuate our ECONOMY to their BENEFITS angalia GREECE; CYPRUS; GEORGIA; ARGENTINA etc

 

[Bavaria]

Wewe Unawajua wakulima wa pamba kama vile kina Jumanne Kishimba walipotokea na kuwahudumia ? Au Umeenda Mbeya IRINGA na KILIMANJARO ukaona Mendeleo ya wakulima wao? Wazee hawjasoma lakini watoto wote wa kiume na kike wamepata ELIMU ana nyumba nzuri na umeme na gari la kubeba majani ya Ng'ombe...

Lakini ni nani MZUNGU kama wewe atakayekwenda huko Mashambani kuwaona hao MIDDLE CLASS?

Wanataka hao MIDDLE CLASS wawe tayari na CREDID CARDS; Umeona hiyo ni kukupa namba na kuanza kukufanya wewe MTUMWA... ndio maana NYERERE akasema CHUKUA ARDHI hakuna atakayekuwewesa

Angalia kila sensa kama hizo wanaiweka TZ ya MWISHO sababu wanajua wakifika kijiji chochote wanapikiwa UGALI na MLENDA bure na ni huyo mkulima kazalisha bure... sasa hapo wao kwa majedwali yao hakuna kitu kama hicho... it is shocking - walimuita Masikini sasa watamuita nani huyo mtu... Ana kibada chake cha UDONGO, ARDHI yake Mazao Mengine anauza... Hana hizo credit cards but happy camper...

Kwa maandiko haya inaelekea hawa wali-compile hizo data hawajawa-consult National Bureau of Statistics kuchukua data husika kuhusu Income pattern ya households.

Kama Kibanga alivyosema hapo, hawa jamaa wamechukua taarifa za watu wanalio kwenye formal sector wanashindwa kuangalia majority ya informal sector.

Hata mama ntilie, dereva wa bodaboda, makuli bandarini, madereva na makonda, madereva wa malori, wapiga vibarua, wauza pombe za kienyeji.

Hawa wote wana uwezo wa kuingiza dola 15 kwa siku

 

[Bavaria]

Hii habari imeletwa hapa na nngu007

Umeleta habari isiyoendana na kichwa cha habari

[h=2]East Africa middle class not big enough for investors[/h]

Businesses that have recently ventured into East Africa hoping to cash in on a steadily expanding middle class may have to revise their expectations because the expansion was grossly exaggerated, warns a new report. TEA GRAPHIC

Businesses that have recently ventured into East Africa hoping to cash in on a steadily expanding middle class may have to revise their expectations because the expansion was grossly exaggerated, warns a report.

More people across the region have poor household incomes compared with other regions, according to a report by Standard Bank, making the business plans of realtors, retailers, luxury brands and wealth managers a touch ambitious.

"The bulk (at least in terms of the number of households) of Africa's consumer opportunity, particularly for fast-moving consumer goods firms looking towards the continent, resides within the base of the pyramid market," said the report, Understanding Africa's Middle Class.

It shows that of the approximately 110 million households studied across 11 countries, 94 million (or 86 per cent) of them were located in the low-income category, suggesting poverty levels are as much as two times the figures shown in official records.

Afrika Investment Bank chief executive Paul Mwai said the informal nature of Africa's economies presented a big headache over the accuracy of available data but said businesses should draw comfort from demographics.

"The middle class may be smaller or bigger than previous estimates, but it is growing rapidly due to a relatively young population that is driving consumption levels. Some of the key sectors that are being driven by a growing middle class are housing, clothing and automobiles," Mr Mwai said.

The 11 African countries under study - Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - were found to have only 15 million middle-class households, up from 4.6 million in 2000 and 2.4 million in 1990.

The report is intended to provide a rough idea of the scale, growth and prospects of income growth across some of the continent's most alluring economies, giving multinational corporations the context for engaging with frontier African opportunities.

The report showed that poverty was reducing at a slower pace in countries in East Africa in the past quarter century compared with other countries like Angola, Nigeria and Ghana.

What could further dampen global investor appetite for the previously thought to be fast growing middle class in the region is the fact that as many as nine in 10, or 126 million of the 140 million East Africans live below the poverty line.

"There has been little change in the composition of Uganda's population in income terms in the past decade. Today, 90 per cent of the population lives on or below the poverty line – down from 95 per cent of the population in 2000," the report says.

In Kenya, the rate of household transition out of poverty has remained sluggish since 1990, when 21.2 million Kenyans (91 per cent of the population then) lived on or below the poverty line.

"Today, 38 million Kenyans (83 per cent of the population) reside in this band," the report says, placing 94 per cent of Tanzania's population below the poverty line as well.


The report classifies household incomes into four groups using the Living Standard Measure, which uses the level of spending rather than income as a measure of affluence.

Low-income people are listed as those spending less than $5,500 in a year or $15 per day while the lower middle class spend up to $8,500 annually, or $23 per day.

The middle class spends as much as $42,000 per year or $115 per day and the upper middle class spends more than $42,000 a year.

The report is in sharp contrast to a 2011 African Development Bank's (AfDB) study - "The Middle of the Pyramid: Dynamics of the Middle Class in Africa" - which placed people earning between $4 and $20 a day in the middle class, effectively putting a third of Africa's population (more than 300 million) in the segment, which by virtue of its disposable income drives growth.

In April last year, the joint World Bank and International Monetary Fund Global Monitoring Report 2013put the poor in Kenya at 43.37 per cent of the population and in Uganda at 38.01 per cent based on a poverty line of $1.25 per person.

The line would have left 67.87 per cent of Tanzanians in the poor category as well as 63.17 per cent of Rwandans and 81.32 per cent of Burundians.

The Standard Bank report projects a sluggish drift out of the poverty trap, with three-quarters of the 160 million households across the 11 countries expected to be still in the low income bracket by 2030.

"In the past, the conventional wisdom was that as many as 300 million Africans are categorised as middle class. The report points out that investors using an unquantifiable assumption may find individuals they had thought were middle class were in fact highly likely to lose that status in any economic shock," Standard Bank's senior political economist Simon Freemantle said.

While efforts by East African economies to improve living standards of their households have stagnated over the years, the countries have also fared poorly in the growth of the middle class.

Based on LSM categories, the number of Kenya's middle income households has grown threefold in the past 25 years to 400,000 or four per cent of the population, up from 130,000 in 1990 and 190,000 in 2000. By 2030, when Kenya hopes to have attained middle income status, it is expected the country will be home to 1.1 million middle-class households or eight per cent of the population then.

Uganda's middle class, on the other hand, is classified as "relatively immature" and contains 150,000 households, up from 37,000 in 2000.

The number is expected to increase fourfold to around 615,000 households or 5 per cent of the households by 2030, when the population is expected to be 60 million. The report suggests that despite relatively robust economic growth, Uganda seems mostly unable to provide the income support to accommodate its swiftly growing population.

Tanzania has over 100,000 households in the middle class, translating into just 1 per cent of the population up from fewer than 20,000 middle-class households in the year 2000.

By 2030, it is expected that 400,000 households in Tanzania will join the middle class against the projected population of 80 million people.


Mr Freemantle, who wrote the report, however said investors should be optimistic given the greater scope for future growth and movement of low income households into the middle income status.

"The report forecasts acceleration in the accumulation of middle-class households in Africa," he said.

Source: JOSHUA MASINDE ​

 

[Bavaria]

Eleven African countries involved in the study - Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - were found to have only 15 million middle-class households, up from 4.6 million in 2000 and 2.4 million in 1990. If you think the Tanzanian middle class is growing rapidly, you are wrong, according to a new study.

Sijaona sehemu imeongelewa ukosefu wa ajira na uongezekaji wa umasikini.

Zaidi ni transition to a middle income group.

Next time learn how to screen whatever you bring in here

 

[MK254]

Hii habari imeletwa hapa na nngu007

Umeleta habari isiyoendana na kichwa cha habari

East Africa middle class not big enough for investors

Businesses that have recently ventured into East Africa hoping to cash in on a steadily expanding middle class may have to revise their expectations because the expansion was grossly exaggerated, warns a new report. TEA GRAPHIC

Businesses that have recently ventured into East Africa hoping to cash in on a steadily expanding middle class may have to revise their expectations because the expansion was grossly exaggerated, warns a report.

More people across the region have poor household incomes compared with other regions, according to a report by Standard Bank, making the business plans of realtors, retailers, luxury brands and wealth managers a touch ambitious.

"The bulk (at least in terms of the number of households) of Africa's consumer opportunity, particularly for fast-moving consumer goods firms looking towards the continent, resides within the base of the pyramid market," said the report, Understanding Africa's Middle Class.

It shows that of the approximately 110 million households studied across 11 countries, 94 million (or 86 per cent) of them were located in the low-income category, suggesting poverty levels are as much as two times the figures shown in official records.

Afrika Investment Bank chief executive Paul Mwai said the informal nature of Africa's economies presented a big headache over the accuracy of available data but said businesses should draw comfort from demographics.

"The middle class may be smaller or bigger than previous estimates, but it is growing rapidly due to a relatively young population that is driving consumption levels. Some of the key sectors that are being driven by a growing middle class are housing, clothing and automobiles," Mr Mwai said.

The 11 African countries under study - Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - were found to have only 15 million middle-class households, up from 4.6 million in 2000 and 2.4 million in 1990.

The report is intended to provide a rough idea of the scale, growth and prospects of income growth across some of the continent's most alluring economies, giving multinational corporations the context for engaging with frontier African opportunities.

The report showed that poverty was reducing at a slower pace in countries in East Africa in the past quarter century compared with other countries like Angola, Nigeria and Ghana.

What could further dampen global investor appetite for the previously thought to be fast growing middle class in the region is the fact that as many as nine in 10, or 126 million of the 140 million East Africans live below the poverty line.

"There has been little change in the composition of Uganda's population in income terms in the past decade. Today, 90 per cent of the population lives on or below the poverty line – down from 95 per cent of the population in 2000," the report says.

In Kenya, the rate of household transition out of poverty has remained sluggish since 1990, when 21.2 million Kenyans (91 per cent of the population then) lived on or below the poverty line.

"Today, 38 million Kenyans (83 per cent of the population) reside in this band," the report says, placing 94 per cent of Tanzania's population below the poverty line as well.


The report classifies household incomes into four groups using the Living Standard Measure, which uses the level of spending rather than income as a measure of affluence.

Low-income people are listed as those spending less than $5,500 in a year or $15 per day while the lower middle class spend up to $8,500 annually, or $23 per day.

The middle class spends as much as $42,000 per year or $115 per day and the upper middle class spends more than $42,000 a year.

The report is in sharp contrast to a 2011 African Development Bank's (AfDB) study - "The Middle of the Pyramid: Dynamics of the Middle Class in Africa" - which placed people earning between $4 and $20 a day in the middle class, effectively putting a third of Africa's population (more than 300 million) in the segment, which by virtue of its disposable income drives growth.

In April last year, the joint World Bank and International Monetary Fund Global Monitoring Report 2013put the poor in Kenya at 43.37 per cent of the population and in Uganda at 38.01 per cent based on a poverty line of $1.25 per person.

The line would have left 67.87 per cent of Tanzanians in the poor category as well as 63.17 per cent of Rwandans and 81.32 per cent of Burundians.

The Standard Bank report projects a sluggish drift out of the poverty trap, with three-quarters of the 160 million households across the 11 countries expected to be still in the low income bracket by 2030.

"In the past, the conventional wisdom was that as many as 300 million Africans are categorised as middle class. The report points out that investors using an unquantifiable assumption may find individuals they had thought were middle class were in fact highly likely to lose that status in any economic shock," Standard Bank's senior political economist Simon Freemantle said.

While efforts by East African economies to improve living standards of their households have stagnated over the years, the countries have also fared poorly in the growth of the middle class.

Based on LSM categories, the number of Kenya's middle income households has grown threefold in the past 25 years to 400,000 or four per cent of the population, up from 130,000 in 1990 and 190,000 in 2000. By 2030, when Kenya hopes to have attained middle income status, it is expected the country will be home to 1.1 million middle-class households or eight per cent of the population then.

Uganda's middle class, on the other hand, is classified as "relatively immature" and contains 150,000 households, up from 37,000 in 2000.

The number is expected to increase fourfold to around 615,000 households or 5 per cent of the households by 2030, when the population is expected to be 60 million. The report suggests that despite relatively robust economic growth, Uganda seems mostly unable to provide the income support to accommodate its swiftly growing population.

Tanzania has over 100,000 households in the middle class, translating into just 1 per cent of the population up from fewer than 20,000 middle-class households in the year 2000.

By 2030, it is expected that 400,000 households in Tanzania will join the middle class against the projected population of 80 million people.


Mr Freemantle, who wrote the report, however said investors should be optimistic given the greater scope for future growth and movement of low income households into the middle income status.

"The report forecasts acceleration in the accumulation of middle-class households in Africa," he said.

Source: JOSHUA MASINDE ​

Ungepata fursa ya kwenda shule ungeelewa kichwa cha uzi kwenye forum hutegemea na jinsi umedadavua taarifa, siyo lazima ucopy paste hadi hata kichwa. Cha msingi hapa ni yale yaliomo kwenye ripoti, inaonyesha jinsi umaskini umekolea EAC. Tanzania inaongoza kwa wingi wa walala hoi walio na kiwango cha chini kwa pato, asilimia 97% (karibu kila Mbongo) ikifuatwa na Uganda hatimaye Kenya 92%

Hii ni aibu tupu, hapa hata hakuna cha ligi baina ya nchi. Kila mtu ageukie nchi yake na kujiuliza maswali.

 

[ERoni]

Kuna kitu hakipo sawa hapo, maana kwa records hizi za kuwa Lowa income ni 15 usd ambayo ni sawa na 25,000/= kwa siku, Ni familia nyingi zinatumia zaidi ya hii lakini ukisema kwa mtu mmoja mmoja kiukweli hiii ni janga la kitaifa.

Nadhani hawaongelei familia as a whole, wanaangalia matumizi ya individuals ambayo hata hayo ukiangalia ni wachache wanaospendi 25,000TSH per day. Ni familia ngapi za watoto watatu, baba na mama zinatumia 25,000TSH kwa siku? Achilia mbali mtu mmoja mmoja.

Inamaana hii hata wafanya kazi wengi wa serekali hata Graduates hawawezi ingia kwenye group hii. Maana 25,000/= kwa siku ni sawa na 750,000/= kwa wmezi na ili uwe na take home kama hii kwa vyovyote mshahara lazima uwe kwenye 1Mil. Ni angapi wenye mshahara huu?

Na kumbuka hao wanaopata above 1M per month, say 750K net wanategemewa na watu zaidi ya mmoja. Kwa hiyo unaweza kui-break down kuwa huyo anaye earn 750K kwa mwezi hawezi kutumia coz he has to save, kusaidia na mengineyo..

Kibongobongo mtu mwenye uwezo wa kutumia 25,000/= kwa siku nadhani takuwa njema huyu.
By the way kwa wale mnaofaanya akzi posta na miji mingine tukifanya break down hivi hii 25,000/= kwa siku si hela ya mafuta kwenye gari tu ?

Mie naona anayeweza kutumia 25,000TSH kwa siku anapata kama 40,000-50,000TSH kwa siku ambao ni wachache sana kwa maisha ya mwajiriwa wa kawaida..

 

[Bavaria]

Ungepata fursa ya kwenda shule ungeelewa kichwa cha uzi kwenye forum hutegemea na jinsi umedadavua taarifa, siyo lazima ucopy paste hadi hata kichwa. Cha msingi hapa ni yale yaliomo kwenye ripoti, inaonyesha jinsi umaskini umekolea EAC. Tanzania inaongoza kwa wingi wa walala hoi walio na kiwango cha chini kwa pato, asilimia 97% (karibu kila Mbongo) ikifuatwa na Uganda hatimaye Kenya 92%

Hii ni aibu tupu, hapa hata hakuna cha ligi baina ya nchi. Kila mtu ageukie nchi yake na kujiuliza maswali.

Peleka upumbavu wako Nairobi, 94% ya watanzania ni masikini kwa data zipi??

Na uache ukilaza, content ya habari yako hairandani na kichwa cha habari.

Usilazimishe kuleta uzi ilimradi uonekane umeweka na wewe.

Kilaza mkubwa

 

[MK254]

Peleka upumbavu wako Nairobi, 94% ya watanzania ni masikini kwa data zipi??

Na uache ukilaza, content ya habari yako hairandani na kichwa cha habari.

Usilazimishe kuleta uzi ilimradi uonekane umeweka na wewe.

Kilaza mkubwa

Laumu waliokua na jukumu la kukupa elimu ukiwa shuleni, mimi sihusiki. Kama takwimu zilizopo kwenye hii taarifa zimekushinda kuelewa, basi hamna wa kukuokoa, hata wenzio wanapita kimya huku wakikushangaa.

 

[nngu007]

Kwa maandiko haya inaelekea hawa wali-compile hizo data hawajawa-consult National Bureau of Statistics kuchukua data husika kuhusu Income pattern ya households.

Kama Kibanga alivyosema hapo, hawa jamaa wamechukua taarifa za watu wanalio kwenye formal sector wanashindwa kuangalia majority ya informal sector.

Hata mama ntilie, dereva wa bodaboda, makuli bandarini, madereva na makonda, madereva wa malori, wapiga vibarua, wauza pombe za kienyeji.

Hawa wote wana uwezo wa kuingiza dola 15 kwa siku

Differentiate between Dourable Goods and Perishable Goods...

Makonda; Madereva they can Perish in one way or another but the land still there...

 

[Bavaria]

Laumu waliokua na jukumu la kukupa elimu ukiwa shuleni, mimi sihusiki. Kama takwimu zilizopo kwenye hii taarifa zimekushinda kuelewa, basi hamna wa kukuokoa, hata wenzio wanapita kimya huku wakikushangaa.

Taarifa gan za kipumbavu?? Data zisizo na mashiko.

 

[Money Stunna]

Kuna watu hamjaelewa hiyo dollar 15 kwa siku ni kutumia yote yani wenye uwezo wa kutumia.

Kuna watu wanasema hiyo ata bodaboda wanaipata je wakipata dollar 15 wanaitumia yote kwa siku?

 

[MK254]

Kuna watu hamjaelewa hiyo dollar 15 kwa siku ni kutumia yote yani wenye uwezo wa kutumia.

Kuna watu wanasema hiyo ata bodaboda wanaipata je wakipata dollar 15 wanaitumia yote kwa siku?

Bana utakua na kazi ngumu kuwafunza watu waliowashinda hata walimu na wazazi wao. Unachosema ndicho wengi wameshindwa kuelewa na kubaki matusi tuu. Ni asilimia ndogo sana ya watu wanaoweza kutumia dola $15 kwa siku.
Mfano, asilimia 92% ya Wakenya, 96 Waganda, na 97% Watanzania hawana uwezo wa kutumia zaidi ya $15 kwa siku, na kwa jinsi ninavyoelewa matumizi ya kila siku, hizo ni pesa kidogo sana. Ni kama 1,200 Kshs ama 25,000 Tshs, yaani mafuta ya gari na chakula cha mchana tu.