THE Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) Economic Value of Peace 2021 report has ranked South Africa 21st out of 163 countries for its high economic cost of violence.
The IEP measures the cost of containing violence in a country by tracking the money spent and income lost around 19 variables grouped into three cohorts:
- Violence containment;
- Armed conflict;
- Interpersonal and self-inflicted violence.
The institute estimates that South Africa had an annual containment cost equal to 12% of GDP in 2019 – or around R600 billion.
In turn, peaceful countries like Denmark, Canada and Japan expend only 3% of their GDP containing violence.
This cost of containing the unrest uses public and private money that could otherwise have been used more productively in society had it not been for the unrest.
There has recently been increased awareness in South Africa of violence containment activity and associated expenditure, including increased spending
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