Income inequality (Gini index)

0 if everyone has the same income, 100 if one person has everything. The higher the figure, the more unequal incomes are within the country.

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World map: Income inequality (Gini index), 2021 — Map 2021. Source: Gapminder, coefficient de Gini v4 (CC BY 4.0), d’après la Banque mondiale.

In 2021, 169 countries have a value. Highest: South Africa (64.9), Haiti (62.1), Suriname (61). Lowest: Slovenia (25.9), Iceland (26.1), Slovakia (26.4). World (population-weighted average): 39.6. France: 34.1 (125th of 169).

Country ranking in 2021

Rank	Country	Value
1	South Africa	64.9
2	Haiti	62.1
3	Suriname	61
4	Namibia	59.6
5	Central African Republic	59.4
6	Zambia	58.9
7	Mozambique	56.6
8	Brazil	56.1
9	Eswatini	56.1
10	Botswana	54
11	Angola	53
12	Belize	53
13	Colombia	53
14	Guinea-Bissau	52.8
15	Zimbabwe	51.8
16	Panama	51.2
17	Congo - Brazzaville	50.7
18	Benin	49.6
19	Costa Rica	49.5
20	Honduras	49.5
21	Guatemala	49.4
22	Cameroon	48.3
23	Mexico	48
24	Ecuador	47.2
25	Paraguay	47.1
26	South Sudan	46.8
27	Malawi	46.5
28	Lesotho	46.4
29	Nicaragua	46.3
30	Chile	46
31	Jamaica	46
32	Madagascar	45.4
33	Guyana	45.2
34	Rwanda	45.2
35	Venezuela	45.1
36	Chad	45
37	Congo - Kinshasa	44.7
38	Turkmenistan	44.7
39	Argentina its history →	44.6
40	Uganda	44.6
41	Togo	44.5
42	Cuba	44.1
43	Bahamas	44
44	Eritrea	44
45	United States	44
46	Iran	43.8
47	Peru	43.8
48	Philippines	43.7
49	Ghana	43.5
50	Türkiye	43.5
51	Dominican Republic	43.2
52	Bolivia	43
53	Côte d’Ivoire	43
54	Papua New Guinea	42.9
55	Bulgaria	42.7
56	Kenya	42
57	North Korea	42
58	Tanzania	42
59	Senegal	41.9
60	Malaysia	41.8
61	Trinidad & Tobago	41.8
62	Burundi	41.7
63	Djibouti	41.6
64	Cambodia	40.9
65	Singapore	40.9
66	Morocco	40.8
67	Uruguay	40.4
68	Indonesia	40.3
69	Sri Lanka	40.2
70	El Salvador	40.1
71	Israel	39.8
72	Russia	39.7
73	China	39.1
74	Afghanistan	39
75	Libya	39
76	Laos	38.8
77	Syria	38.8
78	Somalia	38.6
79	Yemen	38.5
80	India its history →	38.4
81	Solomon Islands	38
82	Gabon	37.9
83	Oman	37.9
84	Montenegro	37.8
85	United Kingdom	37.7
86	Italy	37.7
87	Vanuatu	37.6
88	Bhutan	37.3
89	Georgia	37.3
90	Equatorial Guinea	37.3
91	Romania	37.3
92	Sierra Leone	37.2
93	Ethiopia	37
94	Lithuania	37
95	Liberia	36.8
96	Saudi Arabia	36.8
97	Nigeria	36.7
98	Burkina Faso	36.6
99	Vietnam	36.6
100	Spain its history →	36.4
101	Fiji	36.3
102	Kuwait	36.1
103	Niger	36
104	Latvia	35.8
105	Thailand	35.7
106	Sudan	35.6
107	Jordan	35.4
108	Luxembourg	35.4
109	New Zealand	35.2
110	Brunei	35
111	Guinea	35
112	Gambia	35
113	Uzbekistan	35
114	Canada	34.9
115	Portugal its history →	34.9
116	Palestine	34.9
117	Albania	34.5
118	Switzerland its history →	34.5
119	Australia its history →	34.4
120	Japan	34.3
121	North Macedonia	34.3
122	Tunisia	34.3
123	Greece	34.2
124	Qatar	34.2
125	France its history →	34.1
126	Tajikistan	34.1
127	Bosnia & Herzegovina	33.9
128	Bangladesh	33.8
129	Mali	33.7
130	Germany its history →	33.5
131	Mongolia	33.5
132	Nepal	33.2
133	Lebanon	33.1
134	Pakistan	33.1
135	Egypt	32.9
136	Cyprus	32.7
137	Ireland	32.7
138	Mauritania	32.5
139	Austria	32.2
140	South Korea	32.1
141	Myanmar (Burma)	32.1
142	Poland	31.8
143	Serbia	31.7
144	Taiwan	31.5
145	Sweden its history →	31.3
146	Armenia	31.2
147	Croatia	31.1
148	Hungary its history →	31.1
149	Estonia	31
150	Iraq	31
151	Kyrgyzstan	31
152	Timor-Leste	30.3
153	Denmark	29.5
154	Netherlands its history →	29.5
155	Kazakhstan	29.2
156	Malta	28.7
157	Belgium	28.6
158	Algeria	28.6
159	Azerbaijan	28.3
160	Ukraine its history →	28.2
161	Norway	27.6
162	Finland	27.3
163	Moldova	27
164	United Arab Emirates	26.7
165	Belarus	26.6
166	Czechia	26.5
167	Slovakia	26.4
168	Iceland	26.1
169	Slovenia	25.9

9 countries or territories have no value that year.

Continent averages

World (population-weighted average)	39.6
Europe (average)	35.6
Africa (average)	41.6
Americas (average)	47.6
Asia (average)	38
Oceania (average)	36.6

Understanding this map

What this figure measures

The Gini coefficient sums up in one number how income is spread among residents. It comes mainly from household surveys (World Bank) and usually covers income after taxes and benefits or, in many poor countries, consumption, which gives slightly lower figures. Around 25-30, incomes are tightly bunched (Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechia, Iceland); above 55, very unequal.

Where inequality is highest

Southern Africa and Latin America lead: South Africa (about 65), Namibia, Suriname, Brazil (56). These gaps are partly the legacy of colonisation and, in South Africa, apartheid: land ownership and schooling long reserved for a minority. Europe is the most equal region, thanks in part to large social transfers. The United States (about 44) is well above European countries, and the gap has widened since 1980.

Limits

Surveys take place only every few years, and not everywhere: between surveys, and often before 1980, values are interpolated or reconstructed by Gapminder (the map starts in 1960; earlier reconstructions are too fragile) and should be read as orders of magnitude. Surveys poorly capture very high incomes, hence the “richest 10% share” view, drawn from tax data. The world average is the countries' average weighted by population: it measures average inequality within countries, not inequality among all the world's inhabitants.

Sources : Gapminder, coefficient de Gini v4 (CC BY 4.0), d’après la Banque mondiale

In the same theme : Inequality

Gini index Share of the richest 10%Poverty

All maps

Electoral democracy index Women's right to vote Life expectancy at birth Children dying before age 5 Children per woman GDP per capita Economic freedom index Median income per person per month Income inequality (Gini index)Income share of the richest 10%Extreme poverty (under $2.15 a day)Tax revenue Public debt Public debt per person Public spending Military spending Public spending on education Public spending on health Public social spending Research and development spending Share of public debt held abroad Interest paid on public debt Share of taxes eaten up by interest on debt Public debt in years of taxes Total government revenue Top marginal income tax rate Budget balance: deficit or surplus Interest-growth gap (r − g)10-year government borrowing rate Household electricity prices Gender gap in hourly wages CO₂ emissions per person — on the territory Share of electricity from low-carbon (renewables + nuclear) sources Population and density Share of people aged 65 and over Immigrants as a share of the population Share of people with no religion Largest religion Countries accessible without a visa

Page updated on 2026-11-03.