List Of Countries By Income Equality

[bss4life15]

https://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_inc_equ_un_gin_ind-income-equality-un-gini-index

I found this list to be kind of sad where the U.S. is ranked, below Iran and Cameroon, but we did beat Rwanda.

[rumborak]

Err, I have the distinct impression that the higher the value, the worse for you, not the better. Any list where Namibia is the top and Denmark is the lowest begs that, me thinks.

rumborak

[shadowfex]

Err, I have the distinct impression that the higher the value, the worse for you, not the better. Any list where Namibia is the top and Denmark is the lowest begs that, me thinks.

rumborak

Yep, that's how it is. The list is based on the gini co-efficient. The higher the value the less equal income distribution.

[rumborak]

I  guess we can mark this one to the classic "I came along something that confirmed my preconceptions, so I shared it."

rumborak

[kári]

I  guess we can mark this one to the classic "I came along something that confirmed my preconceptions, so I shared it."

rumborak

What does this have to do with preconceptions? With the ranking being the other way around as opposed to how the OP thought it was, it seems the US is ranked even lower... Or does it have something to do with him explicitly mentioning Iran, Cameroon and Rwanda?

[Xanthul]

I don't think income equality is a measure to be considered by itself anyway. For example, Rwanda has a pretty good equality rating, but all it means is that most of the people are equally poor there.

[rumborak]

I  guess we can mark this one to the classic "I came along something that confirmed my preconceptions, so I shared it."

rumborak

What does this have to do with preconceptions? With the ranking being the other way around as opposed to how the OP thought it was, it seems the US is ranked even lower... Or does it have something to do with him explicitly mentioning Iran, Cameroon and Rwanda?

That's what I was mostly reacting to, yeah.

rumborak

[shadowfex]

I don't think income equality is a measure to be considered by itself anyway. For example, Rwanda has a pretty good equality rating, but all it means is that most of the people are equally poor there.

You're right. The wealth of a nation is not measured in that graph.

[Scheavo]

I don't think income equality is a measure to be considered by itself anyway. For example, Rwanda has a pretty good equality rating, but all it means is that most of the people are equally poor there.

I agree there's other important factors to consider when looking at a country - being poor in America isn't even close to the same as being poor in, say, Rwanda, but technological luxuries don't do too much for ya when you need food, clothing, housing and health care, so it's still important. Wealth is power, and it does say a lot about a countries economics, and a country with a more equal distribution of wealth is more stable, and people's qualities of life are generally better (they're happier).

[Riceball]

As an economist, I can say Gini co-efficients are useful to teach high school economics and thats about it. They tell you next-to-nothing.