Income equality

The ratio of the share of national income going to the richest 20% of households in a country to the share of the poorest 20% is a useful measure of inequality. Figures from the World Bank show that by this indicator many of the world's most unequal countries are in Latin America. In Colombia the incomes of the top fifth are nearly 25 times those of the bottom fifth. Most emerging Asian countries are less unequal: the incomes of the richest 20% of Chinese are about eight times those of the poorest 20%. In Thailand, one of Asia's most unequal countries, the ratio is 15:1. Qatar's income per person is among the world's highest. But income is unequally distributed: the richest Qataris receive over 13 times as much as the poorest.