European Union

Gini coefficient

Graph 1: Gini coefficient


The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth distribution.  It is defined as a ratio with values between 0 and 1, where 0 corresponds to perfect equality (everyone having exactly the same income) and 1 corresponds to perfect inequality (where one person has all the income, while everyone else has zero income).  Thus, a low Gini coefficient indicates more equal income or wealth distribution, while a high Gini coefficient indicates more unequal distribution.  See Wikipedia for a definition of the detailed arithmetic.

The data source is the Eurostat indicators website.