Perspectives for improving the life level of the population of the South African Republic in the context of the membership in the BRICS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of socio-economic problems in South Africa, as well as current and perspective measures for their solving within the BRICS membership. The subject of the study is the life level of the population of South Africa. The goal is to identify the perspectives for South Africa solving the problem of poor quality of life for an absolute majority of the population due to its membership in BRICS. The objective is to examine poverty and Gini coefficients, unemployment, condition and problems of education, data on AIDS and tuberculosis rates in South Africa and other BRICS member countries, and also to identify planned activities within the framework of BRICS for these problems solving. General scientific methods such as analysis, synthesis and comparisons are used in the article. The following results were obtained: after the abolition of apartheid policy some indicators in South Africa have improved (rates of GDP per capita, availability of education and life expectancy have increased, more people got access to the Internet and electricity). However, significant problems remained – high unemployment, unskilled work force, huge rates of uneven income distribution, violence, high rates of AIDS and tuberculosis. Having examined the BRICS summit declarations, we have found that member countries are paying considerable attention to the development of political methods for dealing with national problems. Some of the issues have already been solved by certain members of the BRICS, while others are still common. Conclusions: BRICS planned activities aimed at solving the problems of poverty, unemployment, education, incidence of tuberculosis and AIDS have been indicated; we believe that if the ambitious goals of repositioning geopolitical forces in the world attributable to BRICS are real, the union can’t allow any member to "turn a blind eye" to problems that are well-known and spoil the social reputation in the global space, not only for the problematic country, but also for the whole union, and therefore South Africa has all chances to solve its basic social problems.