Traditionally, economists measure middle class from the income perspective. Considering quality of data for many African countries, relying solely on income may, unfortunately, lead to an incorrect picture. This article compares and analyses the African middle class measured by income and by ownership of assets. Results indicate that middle class sizes differ significantly in some countries, while in others they are more or less the same. Regression analyses performed to investigate potential correlates of the African income and assets middle class sizes indicate that the African assets middle class size is positively associated with income per capita and negatively with assets inequality. To a lesser extent, it is positively affected by education and negatively by ethnic fractionalisation. The African income middle class size depends positively on income per capita and education, while negatively on income inequality.

中文翻译：

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衡量非洲的中产阶级——收入与资产的方法

传统上，经济学家从收入的角度衡量中产阶级。考虑到许多非洲国家的数据质量，不幸的是，仅依靠收入可能会导致不正确的情况。本文比较和分析了以收入和资产所有权衡量的非洲中产阶级。结果表明，一些国家的中产阶级规模差异很大，而另一些国家则大致相同。为调查非洲收入和资产中产阶级规模的潜在相关性而进行的回归分析表明，非洲资产中产阶级规模与人均收入呈正相关，与资产不平等呈负相关。在较小程度上，它受到教育的积极影响和种族分化的消极影响。