Income Inequality by Country

What Is Income Inequality?

Income Inequality measures how evenly a country’s total income is distributed among its population using the GINI index. The GINI index ranges from 0 (perfect equality) to 100 (perfect inequality), capturing disparities between the richest and poorest households. A lower GINI value indicates more equal income distribution, while a higher value signals greater disparity.

Why Income Inequality Matters to a Country’s Progress

• Highlights social equity, since large income gaps can lead to social tension and reduced trust.
• Affects economic growth, as unequal incomes can limit consumer spending and reduce human capital development.
• Informs fiscal policy, because governments use it to design tax systems and social welfare programs.

How to Read the Rankings

• Lower GINI values indicate more equal income distribution, while higher values signal wider disparities.
• “Most Recent Year” shows the latest GINI score; “Change” shows the difference from the prior year.
• Small shifts may result from temporary policy changes or economic shocks rather than long-term trends.

Implications for Policy & Society

• High income inequality often prompts governments to expand progressive taxation and social transfer programs to reduce poverty and promote social mobility.
• More equal income distribution supports social cohesion and can boost domestic demand by increasing purchasing power for lower-income households and reduce social tensions.
• Sudden changes in inequality may signal economic shocks or policy shifts, requiring targeted interventions for vulnerable groups to prevent long-term social harm.
• Monitoring inequality trends helps tailor education and healthcare policies to close opportunity gaps over time and support inclusive growth strategies.

Ranking Highlights

• Seychelles tops the progress rankings in Gini Index, recording a drop from 46.8 to 32.1. Bhutan follows with a reduction from 37.4 to 28.5, while Myanmar rounds out the top three, falling from 38.1 to 30.7.
• Across all 109 countries, the average year-over-year change was -1.0 pts with a median change of -0.6 pts.
• Overall, 74 countries improved in this area while 32 worsened. Click on a country to open the full country scorecard and see how it performs across a range of key indicators.

Source: World Bank. Only countries with complete data (both points within the past 10 years) are shown.