The previous analysis on Egypt's economy generated a lot of feedback — some of it pushback, some of it genuine curiosity, and some of it from people who clearly recognized themselves in the data. That response was appreciated either way, and you can read it https://app.warera.io/article/6a385953a52401f3a6076f03.
This follow-up applies the same methodology to South Africa, the other economic giant that draws frequent complaints about unfair wealth accumulation. The findings are, if anything, more striking.
A note before diving in: I am relatively new to this game. I do not claim to fully understand every diplomatic relationship, alliance history, or past conflict that shapes the current situation. If some of the framing here misses context, I am genuinely open to hearing it. What I can do is read data — and the data tells a clear story.
South Africa, like Egypt, derives the majority of its weekly income from income taxes collected on wages paid by companies operating on its territory. The host country takes a % of whatever wages employers pay to their workers.
South Africa's territory is large, spanning regions across southern and eastern Africa, Madagascar, and beyond. At the time of this analysis:
2,444 companies operate on South Africa's territory
3,100 workers are employed across those companies
~84,671 gold/week flows into South Africa's treasury from income taxes alone
The same assumptions apply here as in the Egypt analysis, and they deserve to be stated plainly.
Workers are not equal contributors. Some companies pay higher wages than others. The analysis below assumes equal wages across all workers — meaning every worker is treated as contributing the same amount to South Africa's income tax revenue. This is a simplification. In reality, high-level companies with upgraded factories likely pay significantly more per worker than basic operations.
The data covers the top 30 countries by worker count, which together account for approximately 74% of all workers on South African territory. The remaining 26% is spread across a long tail of smaller contributors.
The figure of ~27 gold per worker per week is a rough average derived by dividing total income tax by total workers. Use it as an order of magnitude, not a precise number.
With those caveats in place: here is what the data shows.
Rank, Country, Workers, Est. weekly tax contribution
1 Netherlands~411~11,200 gold
2 Germany~295~8,100 gold
3 Serbia~154~4,200 gold
4 Egypt~130~3,600 gold
5 Belgium~112~3,100 gold
6 Venezuela~105~2,900 gold
7 Portugal~99~2,700 gold
8 Italy~93~2,500 gold
9 Ukraine~78~2,100 gold
10 Lithuania~75~2,000 gold
11 South Africa~72~2,000 gold
12 Croatia~64~1,700 gold
13 France~59~1,600 gold
14 Sweden~52~1,400 gold
15 Turkiye~44~1,200 gold
16 Chile~40~1,100 gold
17 Bosnia~39~1,100 gold
18 Iraq~37~1,000 gold
19 Namibia~35~960 gold
20 Libya~34~930 gold
21 Austria~34~930 gold
22 Indonesia~32~870 gold
23 Brazil~30~820 gold
24 Spain~28~760 gold
25 Finland~27~740 gold
26 Romania~26~710 gold
27 Kyrgyzstan~26~710 gold
28 Philippines~24~660 gold
29 Latvia~22~600 gold
30 Poland~22~600 gold
Top 30 total~2,300 workers ~62,800 gold/week
Two things stand out immediately.
First, South Africa itself ranks 11th on its own territory. The ten countries ahead of it are all foreign countries who have chosen to locate their factories in South African-controlled regions.
Second, the pattern from the Egypt analysis repeats almost exactly: Netherlands and Germany dominate, contributing an estimated 23% of South Africa's income tax revenue between them — more than South Africa's own alliance combined.
To understand why this matters politically, it helps to map the major power blocs currently active in the game:
Coalition 1 (broadly aligned with South Africa and Egypt):
Inglourious Basterds
Balkan Bloc
The Federation
Coalition 2 (broadly the opposition):
BEER
ATLAS
There are also neutral or independently-aligned alliances including Steppes Horde and Frente Unido de Autodefensa (FUA), whose positions vary by issue.
When worker counts are aggregated by coalition, the result is uncomfortable reading for Coalition 2:
Grouping, Est. workers, Est. weekly tax contribution, % of income tax
Coalition 1 (own side)~1,119~30,600 gold~36%
Coalition 2 (opposition)~832~22,700 gold~27%
Neutral / unaffiliated~348~9,500 gold~11%
Coalition 2 is contributing an estimated 27% of South Africa's weekly income tax revenue — more than three quarters of what South Africa's own allied countries contribute.
When both analyses are combined, the numbers become harder to dismiss.
Across both Egypt and South Africa, Coalition 2 countries contribute an estimated ~45,000 gold per week in income taxes to the two nations they most frequently criticize:
~22,300 gold/week to Egypt
~22,700 gold/week to South Africa
This is not a rounding error. It represents a structurally significant share of both countries' primary income stream.
There are legitimate reasons why a player might keep factories on enemy-controlled territory. Moving companies is costly. Access to specific resources may require operating in particular regions, regardless of who controls them. Some players may genuinely not know or care who the landlord is.
These are real considerations, and I don't dismiss them.
But the political argument — that Egypt and South Africa have too much money, that their economic dominance is unfair, that something should be done — becomes difficult to sustain when the loudest voices in that conversation are among the largest contributors to the treasuries they criticize.
The mechanism is simple and does not require agreement on anything diplomatic: every worker you employ on South African territory generates tax revenue for South Africa. That is not a law that can be lobbied against. It is arithmetic.
If Coalition 2 countries relocated their ~832 workers off South African territory — to neutral or allied regions — they would reduce South Africa's weekly income tax by an estimated 22,700 gold per week. Over a month, that would exceed 90,000 gold in lost revenue. No battle required. No diplomacy needed. Just a business decision.
Whether that is worth doing is a separate question. But until it happens, the complaint that South Africa has too much money is, at least in part, a complaint about a problem that the complainants are directly financing.
Data sourced from SPYWarera, reflecting territory companies at the time of analysis. Tax contribution estimates assume equal wages across all workers — actual contributions vary. Alliance classifications reflect the author's understanding of current diplomatic alignments and may not capture all nuances. I am new to this game and welcome corrections.