Poor social development threatens South Africa’s economic sustainability, report shows

Persistently high youth unemployment rates and some of the highest levels of inequality globally have led financial institution Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) to rank South Africa twenty-ninth out of 31 African countries in terms of social and human development in its ‘Where to invest in Africa 2024’ report, which was released on August 6. Overall, South Africa ranks fourth on the continent in terms of investment attractiveness after the significantly smaller island nation economies of Seychelles and Mauritius, with Egypt coming in third. All three have booming tourism-fuelled economies.