GINI index (income inequality)
GINI index
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI
| Title | GINI index |
| Unit of measure | Index |
| Source data | World Bank |
| Original data source | World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household surveys obtained from government statistical agencies and the World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database. |
| Statistical concepts and definition | The GINI index quantifies income distribution inequality by measuring the gap between the Lorenz curve, which represents the cumulative income distribution among a population, and a line of absolute equality, expressed as a percentage. A GINI index of 0 indicates total equality, while an index of 100 shows complete inequality. This index serves as a succinct measure of inequality levels, based on income or consumption data from national household surveys. When available, original survey data are utilized to determine income or consumption proportions across quintiles. |
| Relevance | The World Bank's objective of enhancing shared prosperity focuses on boosting the income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population in each country. GINI coefficients offer crucial insights for understanding this goal. |
| Time coverage | Annual |
| Sector coverage | Economic |
| Data compilation | The GINI coefficients come with limitations. Identical coefficients can result from distinct Lorenz curves, and a country's GINI coefficient might increase with rising income inequality even as the absolute poverty rate falls, since the GINI measures relative, not absolute, wealth disparity. Moreover, GINI coefficients are not additive, meaning a society's overall GINI cannot simply be the sum of its sub-groups' GINIs, nor can country-level GINIs be combined into regional or global figures. Additionally, due to differences in survey methodologies and welfare metrics, GINI data comparability across countries or over time is limited. This is further complicated by variations in whether surveys measure living standards through income or consumption expenditure. |
| Relationship* | 1 |
* This field expresses the impact on vulnerability. The minus sign indicates that it has a vulnerability-decreasing impact (positive impact on resilience), and the plus sign indicates a vulnerability-increasing impact.