South Africa had the highest inequality in income distribution in 2023 with a Gini score of 63. Its South African neighbor Namibia followed in second. The Gini coefficient measures the deviation of the distribution of income (or consumption) among individuals or households within a country from a perfectly equal distribution. A value of 0 represents absolute equality, a value of 100 absolute inequality. All the 20 most unequal countries in the world were either located in Africa or Latin America & The Caribbean.

Cross-national research on the causes and consequences of income inequality has been hindered by the limitations of the existing inequality datasets: greater coverage across countries and over time has been available from these sources only at the cost of significantly reduced comparability across observations. The goal of the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID) is to meet the needs of those engaged in broadly cross-national research by maximizing the comparability of income inequality data while maintaining the widest possible coverage across countries and over time. The SWIID’s income inequality estimates are based on thousands of reported Gini indices from hundreds of published sources, including the OECD Income Distribution Database, the Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and the Caribbean generated by CEDLAS and the World Bank, Eurostat, the World Bank’s PovcalNet, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, national statistical offices around the world, and academic studies while minimizing reliance on problematic assumptions by using as much information as possible from proximate years within the same country. The data collected and harmonized by the Luxembourg Income Study is employed as the standard. The SWIID currently incorporates comparable Gini indices of disposable and market income inequality for 199 countries for as many years as possible from 1960 to the present; it also includes information on absolute and relative redistribution.

Comparing the 130 selected regions regarding the gini index , South Africa is leading the ranking (0.63 points) and is followed by Namibia with 0.58 points. At the other end of the spectrum is Slovakia with 0.23 points, indicating a difference of 0.4 points to South Africa. The Gini coefficient here measures the degree of income inequality on a scale from 0 (=total equality of incomes) to one (=total inequality).The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

Abstract

Is global inequality (inequality among world citizens) stable, decreasing or increasing? How high it is? Is it mostly due to inequalities within nations or between nations? Is there a global middle class? See the working papers above: "True world income distribution 1988 and 1993: first calculations based on household surveys alone" no. 2244, and "Decomposing global income distribution: Does the world have a middle class?" no. 2562

Household survey data (1988-2002) used in these papers, and subsequent book "Worlds Apart: Measuring International and Global Inequality", Princeton University Press, 2005. The data are for three benchmark years: 1988, 1993 and 1998

Kind of data

Aggregate data [agg]

Mode of data collection

Other [oth]

The Gini index measures economic inequality in a country. Specifically, it is the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure) deviates from a perfectly equal distribution among individuals or households within an economy.

Dataset consisting of inequality measures for 46 nation states and a global bibliography of all known household expenditure surveys covering the period roughly 1880-1960. Each entry notes when and where the survey was carried out and salient characteristics of the survey such as number of households, whether income and/or expenditure data are collected etc. These bibliographies are organised by six world regions and then by 118 nation states. For a sub-set of the most useful surveys we have estimated various inequality measures from the published data for 46 nation states, organised by world region.

This project will calculate new estimates of world inequality in the period from the end of the nineteenth century until the 1960s, based on the results of household expenditure surveys. Our investigations have located a vast cache of household expenditure surveys for the period. Thus far, we have identified around 800 household surveys from around the world, carried out between the 1880s and 1960s, of which around half are of sufficient scope as to be potentially useful for the investigation of inequality. We will extract the reported demographic and expenditure data by income group from these reports and use them to estimate parameters of the income distribution. Using these estimates, we will investigate the changing nature of inequality within a number of key nation states, and also investigate the time path and geography of global inequality 1880-1960. In addition, we would use these data to estimate other indicators of living conditions, such as nutritional attainment, which may provide further insights into the impact of industrialisation on inequality.

Based on the degree of inequality in income distribution measured by the Gini coefficient, Brazil was the most unequal country in Latin America as of 2022. Brazil's Gini coefficient amounted to 52.9. Dominican Republic recorded the lowest Gini coefficient at 38.5, even below Uruguay and Chile, which are some of the countries with the highest human development indexes in Latin America.

The Gini coefficient explained The Gini coefficient measures the deviation of the distribution of income among individuals or households in a given country from a perfectly equal distribution. A value of 0 represents absolute equality, whereas 100 would be the highest possible degree of inequality. This measurement reflects the degree of wealth inequality at a certain moment in time, though it may fail to capture how average levels of income improve or worsen over time.

What affects the Gini coefficient in Latin America? Latin America, as other developing regions in the world, generally records high rates of inequality, with a Gini coefficient ranging between 38 and 54 points according to the latest available data from the reporting period 2010-2021. According to the Human Development Report, wealth redistribution by means of tax transfers improves Latin America's Gini coefficient to a lesser degree than it does in advanced economies. Wider access to education and health services, on the other hand, have been proven to have a greater direct effect in improving Gini coefficient measurements in the region.

Income InequalityThe level of income inequality among households in a county can be measured using the Gini index. A Gini index varies between zero and one. A value of one indicates perfect inequality, where only one household in the county has any income. A value of zero indicates perfect equality, where all households in the county have equal income.The United States, as a country, has a Gini Index of 0.47 for this time period. For comparision in this map, the purple counties have greater income inequality, while orange counties have less inequality of incomes. For reference, Brazil has an index of 0.58 (relatively high inequality) and Denmark has an index of 0.24 (relatively low inequality).The 5-year Gini index for the U.S. was 0.4695 in 2007-2011 and 0.467 in 2006-2010. Appalachian Regional Commission, September 2013Data source: U.S. Census Bureau, 5-Year American Community Survey, 2006-2010 & 2007-2011

This statistic shows the inequality of income distribution in China from 2005 to 2023 based on the Gini Index. In 2023, China reached a score of 46.5 (0.465) points. The Gini Index is a statistical measure that is used to represent unequal distributions, e.g. income distribution. It can take any value between 1 and 100 points (or 0 and 1). The closer the value is to 100 the greater is the inequality. 40 or 0.4 is the warning level set by the United Nations. The Gini Index for South Korea had ranged at about 0.32 in 2022. Income distribution in China The Gini coefficient is used to measure the income inequality of a country. The United States, the World Bank, the US Central Intelligence Agency, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development all provide their own measurement of the Gini coefficient, varying in data collection and survey methods. According to the United Nations Development Programme, countries with the largest income inequality based on the Gini index are mainly located in Africa and Latin America, with South Africa displaying the world's highest value in 2022. The world's most equal countries, on the contrary, are situated mostly in Europe. The United States' Gini for household income has increased by around ten percent since 1990, to 0.47 in 2023. Development of inequality in China Growing inequality counts as one of the biggest social, economic, and political challenges to many countries, especially emerging markets. Over the last 20 years, China has become one of the world's largest economies. As parts of the society have become more and more affluent, the country's Gini coefficient has also grown sharply over the last decades. As shown by the graph at hand, China's Gini coefficient ranged at a level higher than the warning line for increasing risk of social unrest over the last decade. However, the situation has slightly improved since 2008, when the Gini coefficient had reached the highest value of recent times.

Brazil is one of the most unequal countries in terms of income in Latin America. In 2022, it was estimated that almost 57 percent of the income generated in Brazil was held by the richest 20 percent of its population. Among the Latin American countries with available data included in this graph, Colombia came in first, as the wealthiest 20 percent of the Colombian population held over 59 percent of the country's total income.

Pakistan PK: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data was reported at 33.500 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 30.700 % for 2013. Pakistan PK: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data is updated yearly, averaging 32.050 % from Dec 1987 (Median) to 2015, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 33.500 % in 2015 and a record low of 28.700 % in 1996. Pakistan PK: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Pakistan – Table PK.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest individual or household. The Gini index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical line of absolute equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line. Thus a Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.; ; World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than one thousand six hundred household surveys across 164 countries in six regions and 25 other high income countries (industrialized economies). While income distribution data are published for all countries with data available, poverty data are published for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. See PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/WhatIsNew.aspx) for definitions of geographical regions and industrialized countries.

Chile CL: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data was reported at 43.000 % in 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 47.000 % for 2020. Chile CL: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data is updated yearly, averaging 49.600 % from Dec 1987 (Median) to 2022, with 16 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 57.200 % in 1990 and a record low of 43.000 % in 2022. Chile CL: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Chile – Table CL.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest individual or household. The Gini index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical line of absolute equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line. Thus a Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.;World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see http://pip.worldbank.org.;;The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than 2000 household surveys across 169 countries. See the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) for details (www.pip.worldbank.org).

The UNU-WIDER World Income Inequality Database (WIID) collects and stores information on income inequality for developed, developing, and transition countries.

This dataset provides a gridded subnational datasets for Income inequality (Gini coefficient) at admin 1 level Gross national income (GNI) per capita PPP at admin 1 level The datasets are based on reported subnational admin data and spans three decades from 1990 to 2021. The dataset is presented in details in the following publication. Please cite this paper when using data. Chrisendo D, Niva V, Hoffman R, Sayyar SM, Rocha J, Sandström V, Solt F, Kummu M. 2024. Income inequality has increased for over two-thirds of the global population. Preprint. doi: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5548291/v1 Code is available at following repositories: Gini coefficient data creation: https://github.com/mattikummu/subnatGini GNI per capita data creation: https://github.com/mattikummu/subnatGNI analyses for the article: https://github.com/mattikummu/gini_gni_analyses The following data is given (formats in brackets) Income inequality (Gini coefficient) at admin 0 level (national) (GeoTIFF, gpkg, csv) Income inequality (Gini coefficient) at admin 1 level (subnational) (GeoTIFF, gpkg, csv) Gross national income (GNI) per capita PPP at admin 0 level (national) (GeoTIFF, gpkg, csv) Gross national income (GNI) per capita PPP at admin 1 level (subnational) (GeoTIFF, gpkg, csv) Slope for Gini coefficient at admin 1 level (GeoTIFF; slope is given also in gpk and csv files) Slope for GNI per capita at admin 1 level (GeoTIFF; slope is given also in gpk and csv files) Input data for the script that was used to generate the Gini coefficient (input_data_gini.zip) Input data for the script that was used to generate the GNI per capita PPP (input_data_GNI.zip) Files are named as followsFormat: raster data (GeoTIFF) starts with rast_*, polygon data (gpkg) with polyg_*, and tabulated with tabulated_*. Admin levels: adm0 for admin 0 level, adm1 for admin 1 levelProduct type: _gini_disp_ for gini coefficient based on disposable income _gni_perCapita_ for GNI per capita PPP Metadata Grids Resolution: 5 arc-min (0.083333333 degrees) Spatial extent: Lon: -180, 180; -90, 90 (xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax) Coordinate ref system: EPSG:4326 - WGS 84 Format: Multiband geotiff; one band for each year over 1990-2021 Unit: no unit for Gini coefficient and PPP USD in 2017 international dollars for GNI per capita Geospatial polygon (gpkg) files: Spatial extent: -180, 180; -90, 83.67 (xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax) Temporal extent: annual over 1990-2021 Coordinate ref system: EPSG:4326 - WGS 84 Format: gkpk Unit: no unit for Gini coefficient and PPP USD in 2017 international dollars for GNI per capita

The Global Database of Light-based Geospatial Income Inequality (LGII) Measures, Version 1 data set contains Gini-coefficients of inequality for 234 countries and territories from 1992 to 2013. The measurement Unit is the Gini-Coefficient (Range: 0-1), with higher values representing higher inequality. These measures are constructed using worldwide geospatial satellite data on nighttime lights emission as a proxy for economic prosperity, matched with varying sources of data on geo-located population counts. The nighttime lights data were supplied by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), Earth Observation Group (EOG), and Operational Linescan System (OLS) instruments. The population data used consisted of CIESIN's Gridded Population of the World (GPW) collection, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) LandScan (LSC) data set. The nighttime lights and population data were combined to produce an array of geospatially-informed Gini-coefficients, which were then weighted to optimize their correlation with a benchmark - specifically, the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID), to generate a parsimonious composite inequality metric.

Abstract

Is global inequality (inequality among world citizens) stable, decreasing or increasing? How high it is? Is it mostly due to inequalities within nations or between nations? Is there a global middle class? See the working papers above: "True world income distribution 1988 and 1993: first calculations based on household surveys alone" no. 2244, and "Decomposing global income distribution: Does the world have a middle class?" no. 2562

Household survey data (1988-2002) used in these papers, and subsequent book "Worlds Apart: Measuring International and Global Inequality", Princeton University Press, 2005. The data are for three benchmark years: 1988, 1993 and 1998

Kind of data

Aggregate data [agg]

Mode of data collection

Other [oth]

In 2023, according to the Gini coefficient, household income distribution in the United States was 0.47. This figure was at 0.43 in 1990, which indicates an increase in income inequality in the U.S. over the past 30 years. What is the Gini coefficient? The Gini coefficient, or Gini index, is a statistical measure of economic inequality and wealth distribution among a population. A value of zero represents perfect economic equality, and a value of one represents perfect economic inequality. The Gini coefficient helps to visualize income inequality in a more digestible way. For example, according to the Gini coefficient, the District of Columbia and the state of New York have the greatest amount of income inequality in the U.S. with a score of 0.51, and Utah has the greatest income equality with a score of 0.43. The Gini coefficient around the world The Gini coefficient is also an effective measure to help picture income inequality around the world. For example, in 2018 income inequality was highest in South Africa, while income inequality was lowest in Slovenia.

Tunisia TN: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data was reported at 35.800 % in 2010. This records a decrease from the previous number of 37.700 % for 2005. Tunisia TN: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data is updated yearly, averaging 40.500 % from Dec 1985 (Median) to 2010, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 43.400 % in 1985 and a record low of 35.800 % in 2010. Tunisia TN: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Tunisia – Table TN.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest individual or household. The Gini index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical line of absolute equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line. Thus a Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.; ; World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than one thousand six hundred household surveys across 164 countries in six regions and 25 other high income countries (industrialized economies). While income distribution data are published for all countries with data available, poverty data are published for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. See PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/WhatIsNew.aspx) for definitions of geographical regions and industrialized countries.

Analysis of ‘ Decomposing World Income Distribution Database’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0041692/ on 21 November 2021.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

Using national income and expenditure distribution data from 119 countries, the authors decompose total income inequality between the individuals in the world, by continent and by "region" (countries grouped by income level). They use a Gini decomposition that allows for an exact breakdown (without a residual term) of the overall Gini by recipients. Looking first at income inequality in income between countries is more important than inequality within countries. Africa, Latin America, and Western Europe and North America are quite homogeneous continent, with small differences between countries (so that most of the inequality on these continents is explained by inequality within countries). Next the authors divide the world into three groups: the rich G7 countries (and those with similar income levels), the less developed countries (those with per capita income less than or equal to Brazil's), and the middle-income countries (those with per capita income between Brazil's and Italy's). They find little overlap between such groups - very few people in developing countries have incomes in the range of those in the rich countries.

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

Sudan SD: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data was reported at 35.400 % in 2009. Sudan SD: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data is updated yearly, averaging 35.400 % from Dec 2009 (Median) to 2009, with 1 observations. Sudan SD: Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Sudan – Table SD.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest individual or household. The Gini index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical line of absolute equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line. Thus a Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.; ; World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than one thousand six hundred household surveys across 164 countries in six regions and 25 other high income countries (industrialized economies). While income distribution data are published for all countries with data available, poverty data are published for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. See PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/WhatIsNew.aspx) for definitions of geographical regions and industrialized countries.