Middle class size (% of the population)

The identification of the middle class is done through a well-being index constructed from household survey data Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). To construct this database, to 11 questions are referenced as categories. The questions relate to the origin of the water consumed by the household (pump, tap, etc.), the characteristics of the place of residence (number of rooms, cement, ceramic, earth etc.), possession of durable goods (radio, television, refrigerator, car, etc.). The index is obtained after application of a Multiple Component Analysis on these 11 categories. The index is then normalized between 0 and 100 by the min-max method. In the end, the middle class is defined as the segment of the population whose score represents 50 to 125% of the median of the index, i.e., between 0.5 and 0.7. Performance score from o to 100 established by Ferdi. The highest score reflects the best situation. For each country, data refer to the most recent year available.

Source: African Development Bank (AfDB). Shimeles, A., & Ncube, M. (2015). The making of the middle-class in Africa: Evidence from DHS data. The Journal of Development Studies, 51(2), 178-193.