South Africa has a multiracial and multiethnic population, and the total population is about 43 000 000. Black African consitute 75 percent of the population, 15 percent are whites, 7 percent are known as Coloured, and 3 percent are Asian. Although blacks make up about 75 percent of South Africa s population, they earn only 28 percent of the contry s total income. By contrast, whites, eran 61 percent of the income. The income gap between blacks and whites, one of the widest in the world, is reflected in many ways. More than half of all blacks live belong the poverty line, and black unemployment hovers around 45 percent. One-fourth of all blacks live in shacks or have no housing, and 40 percent do not have access to clean water. In rual areas the gap in living standards is even larger. White farmers own more than 87 percent of the the land and produce more than 90 percent of South Africa s agricultural output.

Violence is the most serious social prolblem in South Africa, and much of it can be traced to the legacy of apartheid. Political violence, or what is often called black on black violence+, has been directly linked to the apartheid government that was in power until April 1994.