OECD Gini Coefficient Trends Show Increasing Inequality (Table)

By Mark Evans

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Following is a summary of trends in the Gini coefficients of income inequality across OECD countries from the OECD in Paris:

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                Mid-2000s     2000   Mid-1990s     1990   Mid-1980s   Mid-1970s
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OECD-24              0.313      n/a       0.310      n/a       0.293         n/a
OECD-22              0.300      n/a       0.293      n/a       0.279         n/a
Mexico               0.474    0.507       0.519      n/a       0.452         n/a
Turkey               0.430      n/a       0.490      n/a       0.434         n/a
Portugal             0.385    0.385       0.359    0.329       0.329       0.354
United States        0.381    0.357       0.361    0.349       0.338       0.316
Poland               0.372    0.316         n/a      n/a         n/a         n/a
Italy                0.352    0.343       0.348    0.297       0.309         n/a
New Zealand          0.335    0.339       0.335    0.318       0.271         n/a
United Kingdom       0.335    0.370       0.354    0.373       0.325       0.282
Ireland              0.328    0.304       0.324      n/a       0.331         n/a
Greece               0.321    0.345       0.336      n/a       0.336       0.413
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                Mid-2000s     2000   Mid-1990s     1990   Mid-1980s   Mid-1970s
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Japan                0.321    0.337       0.323      n/a       0.304         n/a
Spain                0.319    0.342       0.343    0.337       0.371         n/a
Canada               0.317    0.301       0.283      n/a       0.287       0.295
Korea                0.312      n/a         n/a      n/a         n/a         n/a
Australia            0.301    0.317       0.309      n/a         n/a         n/a
Germany              0.298    0.270       0.272    0.258       0.257         n/a
Hungary              0.291    0.293       0.294    0.273       0.273         n/a
Iceland              0.280      n/a         n/a      n/a         n/a         n/a
Norway               0.276    0.261       0.256      n/a       0.234         n/a
Switzerland          0.276    0.279         n/a      n/a         n/a         n/a
Netherlands          0.271    0.278       0.282    0.278       0.259       0.251
Belgium              0.271    0.289       0.287      n/a       0.274         n/a
France               0.270    0.270       0.270    0.290       0.300         n/a
Finland              0.269    0.261       0.228      n/a       0.207       0.235
Czech Republic       0.268    0.260       0.257    0.232       0.232         n/a
Slovakia             0.268      n/a         n/a      n/a         n/a         n/a
Austria              0.265    0.252       0.238      n/a       0.236         n/a
Luxembourg           0.258    0.261       0.259      n/a       0.247         n/a
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                Mid-2000s     2000   Mid-1990s     1990   Mid-1980s   Mid-1970s
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Sweden               0.234    0.243       0.211    0.209       0.198       0.212
Denmark              0.232    0.226       0.215      n/a       0.221         n/a
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Note: OECD-24 includes Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg,
Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey,
United Kingdom and United States.
OECD-22 excludes Mexico and Turkey.

Source: OECD

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Evans in London at mevans8@bloomberg.net