Gini coefficient

plural Gini coefficients

1. economicsA measure of the inequality of a statistical distribution, ranging from 0 (total equality) to 1 (maximal inequality), used in various disciplines but especially in economics to compare incomes or wealth.

   China is still only eighty-ninth in the world in per capita GNP, and its Gini coefficient of economic inequality is higher than those of the two other countries to which it is often compared—the United States and India.

   2014, Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Introduction, in Can China Lead?: Reaching the Limits of Power and Growth, Harvard Business Publishing, →ISBN, page x

   2 more examples

   One big problem with the Gini coefficient, however, is getting an intuitive feel for what it actually means. It's easy enough to picture a country with a Gini coefficient of zero—there, everyone gets exactly the same income.

   2020, Tim Harford, “Rule four”, in How to Make the World Add Up, Bridge Street Press, →ISBN

   In fact, France’s Gini coefficient, the measure of inequality in a society, is lower today than it was during les trente glorieuses (1945 to 1975), when postwar France regained confidence by helping to pioneer first Concorde, then the TGV, and then in the early 1980s the proto-internet (the Minitel).

   2023 May 1, Alexander Hurst, “Has France really gone to hell? Its catastrophist discourse is at odds with the facts”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: Gini index, Gini ratio