Economic Inequality
How are incomes and wealth distributed between people? Both within countries and across the world as a whole?
On this page, you can find all our data, visualizations, and writing relating to economic inequality.
This evidence shows us that inequality in many countries is very high and, in many cases, has been on the rise. Global economic inequality is vast and compounded by overlapping inequalities in health, education, and many other dimensions.
But economic inequality is not rising everywhere. Within many countries, it has fallen or remained stable. And global inequality – after two centuries of increase – is now falling too.
The large differences we see across countries and over time are crucial. They show us that high and rising inequality is not inevitable, and that the extent of inequality today is something that we can change.
Explore Data on Economic Inequality
About this data
This data explorer provides a range of inequality indicators measured according to two different definitions of income obtained from different sources.
- Data from the World Inequality Database relates to inequality before taxes and benefits.
- Data from the World Bank relates to either income after taxes and benefits or consumption, depending on the country and year.
Further information about the definitions and methods behind this data can be found in the article below, where you can also explore and compare a much broader range of indicators from different sources:
OWID Data Collection: Inequality and Poverty
Explore a wide range of indicators on inequality and poverty and compare sources.
Research & Writing
How has income inequality within countries evolved over the past century?
While the steep rise of inequality in the United States is well-known, long-run data on the incomes of the richest shows countries have followed a variety of trajectories.
Income inequality before and after taxes: How much do countries redistribute income?
The redistribution of income achieved by governments through taxes and benefits varies hugely.
Income Inequality Over the Long-run
Global Inequality
Interactive Charts on Economic Inequality
Income inequality: Gini coefficientWorld Bank
Distribution of income across richer and poorer groups (before tax)WID, area
Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after taxWorld Bank (via UN SDG)
Income share of the richest 1% (before tax)WID
Income share of the richest 10% (before tax)WID
Threshold income for each decile (after tax)LIS
Annual growth of the income or consumption of the poorest 40%
Annual growth of the income or consumption of the poorest 40% vs. the total population
Distribution of income across richer and poorer groupsWorld Bank
Distribution of income across richer and poorer groups (after tax)LIS
Distribution of income across richer and poorer groups (before tax)WID, bars
Gini coefficient: World Inequality Database vs. World Bank
Income inequality vs. GDP per capita
Income inequality: Gini coefficientWorld Bank, Marimekko
Income inequality: Gini coefficient (after tax)Chartbook of Economic Inequality
Income inequality: Gini coefficient (after tax)LIS
Income inequality: Gini coefficient (before tax)WID
Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after taxOECD, scatterplot
Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after taxOECD, line chart
Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after taxLIS, scatterplot
Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after taxWID, scatterplot
Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after taxLIS, line chart
Income inequality: Gini coefficient in Latin America (after tax)CEDLAS
Income inequality: Palma ratio (after tax)LIS
Income inequality: Palma ratio (before tax)WID
Income or consumption of the poorest 10%World Bank, Marimekko
Income or consumption of the poorest 10% vs. GDP per capita
Income or consumption of the poorest 10% vs. mean income
Income or consumption of the poorest and richest 10%
Income or consumption of the richest 10%World Bank, Marimekko
Income or consumption share of the richest 10%World Bank
Income share of the richest 1% (before tax)WID, with extrapolations
Income share of the richest 1% before and after taxWID, scatterplot
Income share of the richest 1% vs. Gini coefficient (before tax)WID
Income share of the richest 10% (after tax)LIS
Income share of the richest 10% before and after taxWID, scatterplot
Income share of the richest 10% before and after taxLIS, scatterplot
Income share of the richest 10% vs. Gini coefficient (before tax)WID
Mean income or consumption per day2017 Int-$
Mean income or consumption per dayMarimekko
Mean income or consumption per day vs. GDP per capita
Mean vs. median income or consumptionWorld Bank
Median and mean income (after tax)LIS
Median income or consumption per day
Median income or consumption per day vs. GDP per capita
Reduction in income inequality before and after taxOECD
Three metrics of inequality
Threshold income for each decile (before tax)WID
Wealth share of the richest 1%WID
Wealth share of the richest 10%WID
Cite this work
Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. This topic page can be cited as:
Joe Hasell, Pablo Arriagada, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser (2023) - "Economic Inequality". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://staging-owid.netlify.app/economic-inequality' [Online Resource]BibTeX citation
@article{owid-economic-inequality,
author = {Joe Hasell and Pablo Arriagada and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser},
title = {Economic Inequality},
journal = {Our World in Data},
year = {2023},
note = {https://staging-owid.netlify.app/economic-inequality}
}
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