Gap Between Rich and Poor: World Income Inequality

To understand how many inhabitants of a country are poor, it is not enough to know a country's per capita income. The number of poor people in a country and the average quality of life depend on how equally or unequally income is distributed across the population. A Gini index value of 0 represents absolute equality, and a value of 100 indicates absolute inequality.

Countries with
greatest inequality Gini
index

1. Namibia 74.3

2. Lesotho 63.2

3. Sierra Leone 62.9

4. Central African Republic 61.3

5. Botswana 60.5

6. Bolivia 60.1

7. Haiti 59.2

8. Colombia 58.6

9. Paraguay 58.4

10. South Africa 57.8

11. Brazil 57.0

12. Panama 56.1

13. Guatemala 55.1

14. Chile 54.9

15. Honduras 53.8

16. Ecuador 53.6

17. El Salvador 52.4

18. Peru 52.0

19. Dominican Republic 51.6

20. Argentina 51.3

21. Papua New Guinea 50.9

22. Zambia 50.8

23. Niger 50.5

24. Swaziland 50.4

25. Gambia 50.2

26. Zimbabwe 50.1

27. Costa Rica 49.8

28. Malaysia 49.2

29. Venezuela 48.2

30. Madagascar 47.5

Countries with
greatest equality Gini
Index

1. Denmark 24.7

2. Japan 24.9

3. Sweden 25.0

4. Czech Republic 25.4

5. Norway 25.8

Slovakia 25.8

7. Bosnia and Herzegovina 26.2

8. Finland 26.9

Hungary 26.9

10. Ukraine 28.1

11. Germany 28.3

12. Slovenia 28.4

13. Croatia 29.0

14. Austria 29.1

15. Bulgaria 29.2

16. Belarus 29.7

17. Ethiopia 30.0

18. Kyrgyzstan 30.3

19. Pakistan 30.6

20. Netherlands 30.9

21. Romania 31.0

22. Albania 31.1

23. Korea, South 31.6

24. Canada 32.6

Tajikistan 32.6

26. France 32.7

27. Mongolia 32.8

27. Belgium 33.0

29. Moldova 33.2

30. Bangladesh 33.4

Source: World Development Index 2007, The World Bank.

Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Economic Statistics by Country, 2005 Economic Statistics Gap Between Rich and Poor: World Income Inequality

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