What is the Gini Coefficient
The Gini coefficient is a measure of income or wealth inequality within a population. First proposed by an Italian statistician, Corrado Gini (in 1912), it is typically expressed as a number between 0 and 1, with 0 representing perfect equality (i.e., everyone in the population has the same income or wealth) and 1 representing perfect inequality (i.e., one person in the population has all the income or wealth, while everyone else has none). The Gini coefficient is widely used by economists and policymakers to measure and monitor income or wealth inequality, and to inform policies aimed at reducing inequality.
According to the World Population Review website below are the top 5 and bottom 5 countries in the world in terms of their Gini coefficient:
Top 5 Countries with the Highest Gini Coefficients (%) - World Bank:
- South Africa - 2014 - 63.0
- Namibia - 2015 - 59.1
- Suriname - 1999 - 57.9
- Zambia - 2015 - 57.1
- Sao Tome and Principe - 2017 - 56.3
Top 5 Countries with the Lowest Gini Coefficients (%) - World Bank:
- Slovenia - 2018 - 24.6
- Czech Republic - 2018 - 25.0 (tie)
- Slovakia - 2018 - 25.0 (tie)
- Belarus - 2019 - 25.3
- Moldova - 2018 - 25.7