Middle Class, Key Driver of Economic Growth’

Group Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered, Peter Sands

Emerging market consumers are confident about economic growth and are highly optimistic about their personal prosperity, a survey by Standard Chartered has shown.

The independent study which described the rapidly growing middle class as a key driver of economic growth across emerging markets, also noted that those in the middle class in the society have clear aspiration for spending their wealth.

The study sampled the opinion of 5,000 affluent and emerging affluent consumers across five of Standard Chartered’s key markets – Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.

It revealed big differences in the background and employment status of emerging market middle-class consumers.

For instance, Indonesians and Indians tend to work for a local company, while the vast majority of African middle classes are self-employed.
While 77 per cent of Indians have University or post-graduate qualification, 23 per cent of Kenyans did not attend high school.

Furthermore, it showed that while emerging market consumers have a confident outlook, with majority of Indians, Indonesians and Nigerians expecting economic growth in their markets to continue, a majority of consumers in all five countries (between 54 and 91%) expects their personal financial position to improve in the next five years.


It revealed that anticipated spending in the next five years across all five countries includes buying a new vehicle;  across Indonesia, India, Nigeria and Ghana is exploring the world, with  at least around 50 per cent of consumers planning to take more holidays abroad or embark on more business travel.

Europe is seen as a top three travel destination and buying luxury items, the survey indicates that there is mixed appetite for luxury goods.

“Across all five countries, high-end tech goods are expected to be very popular. Ghanaians and Nigerians demonstrate the highest appetite for luxury clothing – demand to buy designer clothing, accessories and/or footwear is expected to more than double in the next five years (compared to the previous five years),” it added.

Commenting on the survey, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered, Peter Sands said “The rapidly growing middle class is a key driver of economic growth across emerging markets, and this research underscores the strong confidence of these increasingly powerful consumers.

“They expect their wealth to grow and have clear aspirations to build a better life for themselves and their families. Based on the findings of this research, we should expect to see a very considerable shift in spending patterns across emerging markets in the next five years, as economic power continues to shift eastwards.”