Economic inequality

Economic inequality is the disparities in people's incomes and wealth. It affects standard of living for different socioeconomic classes in a given country, as how high one's income is often dictates what they can eat and how often they can eat, what type of dwelling they can live in (to the point of becoming homeless sometimes), quality of medical care etc. Government policies to alleviate such inequality, especially by alleviating poverty, or at least trying to alleviate it, can include redistribution of income and wealth, universal healthcare, welfare, universal basic income, increasing or decreasing business regulations, etc.

Differences in national income equality around the world as measured by the national Gini coefficient as of 2018. The Gini coefficient is a number between 0 and 100, where 0 corresponds with perfect equality (where everyone has the same income) and 100 corresponds with absolute inequality (where one person has all the income, and everyone else has zero income).

Income inequality is when some people get far more income than other people. As of 2018, the countries of Scandinavia in northern Europe have some of the lowest levels of income inequality. Incomes are more unequal in the United States and even more so in the countries of southern Africa.

Both wealth and income inequality can be measured by the Gini coefficient.

Related pages

• Social inequality
• Income inequality in the United States
• Welfare economics