Graph and download economic data for Households; Net Worth, Level (BOGZ1FL192090005Q) from Q4 1987 to Q1 2025 about net worth, Net, households, and USA.

In the first quarter of 2024, almost two-thirds percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by the top 10 percent of earners. In comparison, the lowest 50 percent of earners only owned 2.5 percent of the total wealth. Income inequality in the U.S. Despite the idea that the United States is a country where hard work and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps will inevitably lead to success, this is often not the case. In 2023, 7.4 percent of U.S. households had an annual income under 15,000 U.S. dollars. With such a small percentage of people in the United States owning such a vast majority of the country’s wealth, the gap between the rich and poor in America remains stark. The top one percent The United States follows closely behind China as the country with the most billionaires in the world. Elon Musk alone held around 219 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Over the past 50 years, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio has exploded, causing the gap between rich and poor to grow, with some economists theorizing that this gap is the largest it has been since right before the Great Depression.

This statistic shows the median household income in the United States from 1990 to 2023 in 2023 U.S. dollars. The median household income was 80,610 U.S. dollars in 2023, an increase from the previous year. Household incomeThe median household income depicts the income of households, including the income of the householder and all other individuals aged 15 years or over living in the household. Income includes wages and salaries, unemployment insurance, disability payments, child support payments received, regular rental receipts, as well as any personal business, investment, or other kinds of income received routinely. The median household income in the United States varies from state to state. In 2020, the median household income was 86,725 U.S. dollars in Massachusetts, while the median household income in Mississippi was approximately 44,966 U.S. dollars at that time. Household income is also used to determine the poverty line in the United States. In 2021, about 11.6 percent of the U.S. population was living in poverty. The child poverty rate, which represents people under the age of 18 living in poverty, has been growing steadily over the first decade since the turn of the century, from 16.2 percent of the children living below the poverty line in year 2000 to 22 percent in 2010. In 2021, it had lowered to 15.3 percent. The state with the widest gap between the rich and the poor was New York, with a Gini coefficient score of 0.51 in 2019. The Gini coefficient is calculated by looking at average income rates. A score of zero would reflect perfect income equality and a score of one indicates a society where one person would have all the money and all other people have nothing.

Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Other Goods & Services data was reported at 3,543.100 RUB in Sep 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 3,423.300 RUB for Jun 2018. Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Other Goods & Services data is updated quarterly, averaging 1,924.000 RUB from Mar 2005 (Median) to Sep 2018, with 55 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4,266.300 RUB in Dec 2016 and a record low of 420.600 RUB in Mar 2005. Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Other Goods & Services data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table RU.HB003: Household Final Consumption Expenditure: by Household Groups and Expenditures.

Graph and download economic data for Share of Net Worth Held by the Top 1% (99th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBST01134) from Q3 1989 to Q1 2025 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

Angola AO: Proportion of Population Spending More Than 10% of Household Consumption or Income on Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: % data was reported at 35.530 % in 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 12.260 % for 2008. Angola AO: Proportion of Population Spending More Than 10% of Household Consumption or Income on Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: % data is updated yearly, averaging 23.895 % from Dec 2008 (Median) to 2018, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 35.530 % in 2018 and a record low of 12.260 % in 2008. Angola AO: Proportion of Population Spending More Than 10% of Household Consumption or Income on Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: % data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Angola – Table AO.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Proportion of population spending more than 10% of household consumption or income on out-of-pocket health care expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).;Global Health Observatory. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2023. (https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/financial-protection);Weighted average;This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.8.2[https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

About 50.4 percent of the household income of private households in the U.S. were earned by the highest quintile in 2023, which are the upper 20 percent of the workers. In contrast to that, in the same year, only 3.5 percent of the household income was earned by the lowest quintile. This relation between the quintiles is indicative of the level of income inequality in the United States. Income inequalityIncome inequality is a big topic for public discussion in the United States. About 65 percent of U.S. Americans think that the gap between the rich and the poor has gotten larger in the past ten years. This impression is backed up by U.S. census data showing that the Gini-coefficient for income distribution in the United States has been increasing constantly over the past decades for individuals and households. The Gini coefficient for individual earnings of full-time, year round workers has increased between 1990 and 2020 from 0.36 to 0.42, for example. This indicates an increase in concentration of income. In general, the Gini coefficient is calculated by looking at average income rates. A score of zero would reflect perfect income equality and a score of one indicates a society where one person would have all the money and all other people have nothing. Income distribution is also affected by region. The state of New York had the widest gap between rich and poor people in the United States, with a Gini coefficient of 0.51, as of 2019. In global comparison, South Africa led the ranking of the 20 countries with the biggest inequality in income distribution in 2018. South Africa had a score of 63 points, based on the Gini coefficient. On the other hand, the Gini coefficient stood at 16.6 in Azerbaijan, indicating that income is widely spread among the population and not concentrated on a few rich individuals or families. Slovenia led the ranking of the 20 countries with the greatest income distribution equality in 2018.

Graph and download economic data for Net Worth Held by the Bottom 50% (1st to 50th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBLB50107) from Q3 1989 to Q1 2025 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Alcohol & Tobacco data was reported at 1,243.800 RUB in Sep 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 1,211.400 RUB for Jun 2018. Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Alcohol & Tobacco data is updated quarterly, averaging 587.800 RUB from Mar 2005 (Median) to Sep 2018, with 55 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,616.700 RUB in Dec 2017 and a record low of 231.700 RUB in Mar 2005. Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Alcohol & Tobacco data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table RU.HB003: Household Final Consumption Expenditure: by Household Groups and Expenditures.

Abstract

The purpose of the HIES survey is to obtain information on the income, consumption pattern, incidence of poverty, and saving propensities for different groups of people in Nauru. This information will be used to guide policy makers in framing socio-economic developmental policies and in initiating financial measures for improving economic conditions of the people.

Some more specific outputs from the survey are listed below: a) To obtain expenditure weights and other useful data for the revision of the consumer price index; b) To supplement the data available for use in compiling official estimates of household accounts in the systems of national accounts; c) To supply basic data needed for policy making in connection with social and economic planning; d) To provide data for assessing the impact on household living conditions of existing or proposed economic and social measures, particularly changes in the structure of household expenditures and in household consumption; e) To gather information on poverty lines and incidence of poverty throughout Nauru.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Household
• Person
• Expenditure Commodity

Universe

The survey covered all private households on the island of Nauru. When the survey was in the field, interviewers were further required to reduce the scope by removing those households which had not been residing in Nauru for the last 12 months and did not intend to stay in Nauru for the next 12 months.

Persons living in special dwellings (Hospital, Prison, etc) were not included in the survey.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample size adopted for the survey was 500 households which allowed for expected sample loss, whilst still maintaining a suitable responding sample for the analysis.

Before the sample was selected, the population was stratified by constituency in order to assist with the logistical issues associated with the fieldwork. There were eight constituencies in total, along with "Location" which stretches across the districts of Denigamodu and Aiwo, forming nine strata in total. Although constituency level analysis was not a priority for the survey, sample sizes within each stratum were kept to a minimum of 40 households, to enable some basic forms of analysis at this level if required.

The sample selection procedure within each stratum was then to sort each household on the frame by household size (number of people), and then run a systematic skip through the list in order to achieve the desirable sample size.

Sampling deviation

No deviations from the sample design took place.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f] for questionnaires, self-enumeration for the diaries

Research instrument

The survey schedules adopted for the HIES included the following: · Expenditure questionnaire · Income questionnaire · Miscellaneous questionnaire · Diary (x2)

Whilst a Household Control Form collecting basic demographics is also normally included with the survey, this wasn't required for this HIES as this activity took place for all households in the mini census.

Information collected in the four schedules covered the following:

Expenditure questionnaire: Covers basic details about the dwelling structure and its access to things like water and sanitation. It was also used as the vehicle to collect expenditure on major and infrequent expenditures incurred by the household.

Income questionnaire: Covers each of the main types of household income generated by the household such as wages and salaries, business income and income from subsistence activities.

Miscellaneous questionnaire: Covers topics relating to health access, labour force status and education.

Diary: Covers all day to day expenditures incurred by the household, consumption of items produced by the household such as fish and crops, and gifts both received and given by the household.

Cleaning operations

There were 3 phases to the editing process for the 2006 Nauru HIES which included: 1. Data Verification operations 2. Data Editing operations 3. Data Auditing operations

For more information on what each phase entailed go the document HIES Processing Instructions attached to this documentation.

Response rate

The survey response rates were a lot lower than expected, especially in some districts. The district of Aiwo, Uaboe and Denigomodu had the lowest response rates with 16.7%, 20.0% and 34.8% respectively. The area of Location was also extremely low with a responses rate of 32.2%. On a more positive note, the districts of Yaren, Ewa, Anabar, Ijuw and Anibare all had response rates at 80.0% or better.

The major contributing factor to the low response rates were households refusing to take part in the survey. The figures for responding above only include fully responding households, and given there were many partial responses, this also brought the values down. The other significant contributing factor to the low response rates was the interviewers not being able to make contact with the household during the survey period.

Unfortunately, not only do low response rates often increase the sampling error of the survey estimates, because the final sample is smaller, it will also introduce response bias into the final estimates. Response bias takes place when the households responding to the survey possess different characteristics to the households not responding, thus generating different results to what would have been achieved if all selected households responded. It is extremely difficult to measure the impact of the non-response bias, as little information is generally known about the non-responding households in the survey. For the Nauru 2006 HIES however, it was noted during the fieldwork that a higher proportion of the Chinese population residing in Nauru were more likely to not respond. Given it is expected their income and expenditure patterns would differ from the rest of the population, this would contribute to the magnitude of the bias.

Sampling error estimates

To determine the impact of sampling error on the survey results, relative standard errors (RSEs) for key estimates were produced. When interpreting these results, one must remember that these figures don't include any of the non-sampling errors discussed in other sections of this documentation

To also provide a rough guide on how to interpret the RSEs provided in the main report, the following information can be used:

Category  Description
RSE < 5%  Estimate can be regarded as very reliable
5% < RSE < 10% Estimate can be regarded as good and usable
10% < RSE < 25% Estimate can be considered usable, with caution
RSE > 25%  Estimate should only be used with extreme caution

The actual RSEs for the key estimates can be found in Section 4.1 of the main report

As can be seen from these tables, the estimates for Total Income and Total Expenditure from the HIES can be considered to be very good, from a sampling error perspective. The same can also be said for the Wage and Salary estimate in income and the Food estimate in expenditure, which make up a high proportion of each respective group.

Many of the other estimates should be used with caution, depending on the magnitude of their RSE. Some of these high RSEs are to be expected, due to the expected degree of variability for how households would report for these items. For example, with Business Income (RSE 56.8%), most households would report no business income as no household members undertook this activity, whereas other households would report large business incomes as it's their main source of income.

Data appraisal

Other than the non-response issues discussed in this documentation, other quality issues were identified which included: 1) Reporting errors Some of the different aspects contributing to the reporting errors generated from the survey, with some examples/explanations for each, include the following:

a) Misinterpretation of survey questions: A common mistake which takes place when conducting a survey is that the person responding to the questionnaire may interpret a question differently to the interviewer, who in turn may have interpreted the question differently to the people who designed the questionnaire. Some examples of this for a HIES can include people providing answers in dollars and cents, instead of just dollars, or the reference/recall period for an “income” or “expenditure” is misunderstood. These errors can often see reported amounts out by a factor of 10 or even 100, which can have major impacts on final results.

b) Recall problems for the questionnaire information: The majority of questions in both of the income and expenditure questionnaires require the respondent to recall what took place over a 12 month period. As would be expected, people will often forget what took place up to 12 months ago so some information will be forgotten.

c) Intentional under-reporting for some items: For whatever reasons, a household may still participate in a survey but not be willing to provide accurate responses for some questions. Examples for a HIES include people not fully disclosing their total income, and intentionally under-reporting expenditures on items such as alcohol and tobacco.

d) Accidental under-reporting in the household diaries: Although the two diaries are left with the household for a period of two weeks, it is easy for the household to forget to enter all expenditures throughout this period - this problem most likely increases as the two

Definitions: Available income distribution – percentage of incomes of households of particular decile groups in total household income Decile groups - a household is classified to a given decile group on the basis of per capita available income in that household. To do this members of all the households in the survey are listed according to the increasing per capita available income using the weights applied in the survey and divided it into ten groups, equal to the number of the weighted persons. The first decile consists of 10% of persons with the lowest incomes, while the tenth decile – 10% of persons with the highest incomes. Disaggregation: Poland; type of household, decile groups Available time series: since 2005 Source: Results of Household Budget Survey – Statistics Poland

Survey of Household Spending (SHS), average household spending, Canada, regions and provinces.

In 2023, the lowest 20 percent of income consumer units spent about 41.3 percent of their total expenditure on housing. Consumer units belonging to the highest 20 percent of income spent only 29.2 percent on housing. Additionally, those in the highest income quintile spent 17.7 percent of their total expenditure on personal insurance and pensions, while the lowest 20 percent spent only 2.1 percent.

Graph and download economic data for Personal Saving Rate (PSAVERT) from Jan 1959 to May 2025 about savings, personal, rate, and USA.

Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Leisure & Culture data was reported at 6,708.500 RUB in Sep 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 5,838.900 RUB for Jun 2018. Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Leisure & Culture data is updated quarterly, averaging 2,094.300 RUB from Mar 2005 (Median) to Sep 2018, with 55 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 6,708.500 RUB in Sep 2018 and a record low of 493.200 RUB in Mar 2005. Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Leisure & Culture data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table RU.HB003: Household Final Consumption Expenditure: by Household Groups and Expenditures.

Abstract

The survey was conducted during December 2006, following an initial mini census listing exercise which was conducted about two months earlier in late September 2006. The objectives of the HIES were as follows: a) Provide information on income and expenditure distribution within the population; b) Provide income estimates of the household sector for the national accounts; c) Provide data for the re-base on the consumer price index; d) Provide data for the analysis of poverty and hardship.

Geographic coverage

National coverage: whole island was covered for the survey.

Analysis unit

• Household;
• Individual.

Universe

The survey covered all private households on the island of Nauru. When the survey was in the field, interviewers were further required to reduce the scope by removing those households which had not been residing in Nauru for the last 12 months and did not intend to stay in Nauru for the next 12 months. Persons living in special dwellings (Hospital, Prison, etc) were not included in the survey.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample size adopted for the survey was 500 households which allowed for expected sample loss, whilst still maintaining a suitable responding sample for the analysis.

Before the sample was selected, the population was stratified by constituency in order to assist with the logistical issues associated with the fieldwork. There were eight constituencies in total, along with "Location" which stretches across the districts of Denigamodu and Aiwo, forming nine strata in total. Although constituency level analysis was not a priority for the survey, sample sizes within each stratum were kept to a minimum of 40 households, to enable some basic forms of analysis at this level if required.

The sample selection procedure within each stratum was then to sort each household on the frame by household size (number of people), and then run a systematic skip through the list in order to achieve the desirable sample size.

Sampling deviation

No deviations from the sample design took place.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The survey schedules adopted for the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) included the following: · Expenditure questionnaire; · Income questionnaire; · Miscellaneous questionnaire; · Diary (x2).

Whilst a Household Control Form collecting basic demographics is also normally included with the survey, this wasn't required for this HIES as this activity took place for all households in the mini census.

Information collected in the four schedules covered the following: -Expenditure questionnaire: Covers basic details about the dwelling structure and its access to things like water and sanitation. It was also used as the vehicle to collect expenditure on major and infrequent expenditures incurred by the household. -Income questionnaire: Covers each of the main types of household income generated by the household such as wages and salaries, business income and income from subsistence activities. -Miscellaneous questionnaire: Covers topics relating to health access, labour force status and education. -Diary: Covers all day to day expenditures incurred by the household, consumption of items produced by the household such as fish and crops, and gifts both received and given by the household.

All questionnaires are provided as External Resources.

Cleaning operations

There were 3 phases to the editing process for the 2006 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of Nauru which included: 1. Data Verification operations; 2. Data Editing operations; 3. Data Auditing operations.

The software used for data editting is CSPro 3.0. After each batch is completed the supervisor should check that all person details have been entered from the household listing form (HCF) and should review the income and expenditure questionnaires for each batch ensuring that all items have been entered correctly. Any omitted or incorrect items should be entered into the system. The supervisor is required to perform outlier checks (large or small values) on the batched diary data by calculating unit price (amount/quantity) and comparing prices for each item. This is to be conducted by loading the data into Excel files and sorting data by unit price for each item. Any changes to prices or quantities will be made on the batch file.

For more information on what each phase entailed go the document HIES Processing Instructions attached to this documentation.

Response rate

The survey response rates were a lot lower than expected, especially in some districts. The district of Aiwo, Uaboe and Denigomodu had the lowest response rates with 16.7%, 20.0% and 34.8% respectively. The area of Location was also extremely low with a responses rate of 32.2%. On a more positive note, the districts of Yaren, Ewa, Anabar, Ijuw and Anibare all had response rates at 80.0% or better.

The major contributing factor to the low response rates were households refusing to take part in the survey. The figures for responding above only include fully responding households, and given there were many partial responses, this also brought the values down. The other significant contributing factor to the low response rates was the interviewers not being able to make contact with the household during the survey period.

Unfortunately, not only do low response rates often increase the sampling error of the survey estimates, because the final sample is smaller, it will also introduce response bias into the final estimates. Response bias takes place when the households responding to the survey possess different characteristics to the households not responding, thus generating different results to what would have been achieved if all selected households responded. It is extremely difficult to measure the impact of the non-response bias, as little information is generally known about the non-responding households in the survey. For the Nauru 2006 HIES however, it was noted during the fieldwork that a higher proportion of the Chinese population residing in Nauru were more likely to not respond. Given it is expected their income and expenditure patterns would differ from the rest of the population, this would contribute to the magnitude of the bias.

Below is the list of all response rates by district: -Yaren: 80.5% -Boe: 70% -Aiwo: 16.7% -Buada: 62.5% -Denigomodu: 34.8% -Nibok: 68.4% -Uaboe: 20% -Baitsi: 47.8% -Ewa: 80% -Anetan: 76.5% -Anabar: 81.8% -Ijuw: 85.7% -Anibare: 80% -Meneng: 64.3% -Location: 32.2% -TOTAL: 54.4%

Sampling error estimates

To determine the impact of sampling error on the survey results, relative standard errors (RSEs) for key estimates were produced. When interpreting these results, one must remember that these figures don't include any of the non-sampling errors discussed in other sections of this documentation

To also provide a rough guide on how to interpret the RSEs provided in the main report, the following information can be used:

Category  Description
RSE < 5%  Estimate can be regarded as very reliable
5% < RSE < 10% Estimate can be regarded as good and usable
10% < RSE < 25% Estimate can be considered usable, with caution
RSE > 25%  Estimate should only be used with extreme caution

The actual RSEs for the key estimates can be found in Section 4.1 of the main report

As can be seen from these tables, the estimates for Total Income and Total Expenditure from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) can be considered to be very good, from a sampling error perspective. The same can also be said for the Wage and Salary estimate in income and the Food estimate in expenditure, which make up a high proportion of each respective group.

Many of the other estimates should be used with caution, depending on the magnitude of their RSE. Some of these high RSEs are to be expected, due to the expected degree of variability for how households would report for these items. For example, with Business Income (RSE 56.8%), most households would report no business income as no household members undertook this activity, whereas other households would report large business incomes as it's their main source of income.

Data appraisal

Other than the non-response issues discussed in this documentation, other quality issues were identified which included: 1) Reporting errors Some of the different aspects contributing to the reporting errors generated from the survey, with some examples/explanations for each, include the following:

a) Misinterpretation of survey questions: A common mistake which takes place when conducting a survey is that the person responding to the questionnaire may interpret a question differently to the interviewer, who in turn may have interpreted the question differently to the people who designed the questionnaire. Some examples of this for a Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) can include people providing answers in dollars and cents, instead of just dollars, or the reference/recall period for an “income” or “expenditure” is misunderstood. These errors can often see reported amounts out by a factor of 10 or even 100, which can have major impacts on final results.

b) Recall problems for the questionnaire information: The majority of questions in both of the income and expenditure questionnaires require the respondent to recall what took place over a 12 month period. As would be expected, people will often forget what took place up to 12 months ago so some

A breakdown of annual household incomes in Japan showed that around ***** percent of households earned less than *** million Japanese yen per year as of 2024. That year, the average annual household income of Japanese households was approximately *** million yen compared to a median household income of *** million yen.

As of January 2022, the largest share of Chinese middle-class families had an annual income of between *** thousand and *** thousand yuan per year. According to the same survey, almost ** percent of respondents have at least one child. Many middle-class families in China face significant financial burdens because not only do living costs continuously increase but they also often have to support their parents. In that case, one family has to care for four elders and least one kid.

Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Communication data was reported at 961.300 RUB in Sep 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 883.100 RUB for Jun 2018. Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Communication data is updated quarterly, averaging 686.100 RUB from Mar 2005 (Median) to Sep 2018, with 55 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,184.000 RUB in Jun 2016 and a record low of 269.900 RUB in Mar 2005. Russia Final Consumption Expenditures: AM: Households Group 10: 10% with Highest Income: Communication data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal State Statistics Service. The data is categorized under Russia Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table RU.HB003: Household Final Consumption Expenditure: by Household Groups and Expenditures.

In the financial year 2021, a majority of Indian households fell under the aspirers category, earning between ******* and ******* Indian rupees a year. On the other hand, about ***** percent of households that same year, accounted for the rich, earning over * million rupees annually. The middle class more than doubled that year compared to ** percent in financial year 2005. Middle-class income group and the COVID-19 pandemic During the COVID-19 pandemic specifically during the lockdown in March 2020, loss of incomes hit the entire household income spectrum. However, research showed the severest affected groups were the upper middle- and middle-class income brackets. In addition, unemployment rates were rampant nationwide that further lead to a dismally low GDP. Despite job recoveries over the last few months, improvement in incomes were insignificant. Economic inequality While India maybe one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it is also one of the most vulnerable and severely afflicted economies in terms of economic inequality. The vast discrepancy between the rich and poor has been prominent since the last ***** decades. The rich continue to grow richer at a faster pace while the impoverished struggle more than ever before to earn a minimum wage. The widening gaps in the economic structure affect women and children the most. This is a call for reinforcement in in the country’s social structure that emphasizes access to quality education and universal healthcare services.