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Not true. If you look at the GINI index (which is probably the most accurate measure for high inequality) India is quite higher than all those countries. And al
by hristov 15y ago
Not true. If you look at the GINI index (which is probably the most accurate measure for high inequality) India is quite higher than all those countries. And almost every country higher than India has significant economic problems. The only exception is Hong Kong and that is because its income inequality is obviously caused by capital flight from mainland China.
The other indexes do not capture the true nature if income inequality in these modern times. Comparing the top 10% of income earners with the bottom 10% washes things out because the truly rich are a very small group. They are a mere fraction of the top 1%.
- chakde 15y agoWell comparing GINI across similar sized countries: India (36.8), Russia (39.9), US (40.8), China (46.9), Brazil (49.3), India is the lowest of the group. While its true that most european countries have slightly lower GINI, they also have a higher 10% ratio (highest to lowest) than India. So it's pretty hard to argue from the actual statistics that inequality is the outstanding problem of India as it is often made out to be. But it's perhaps true that the contrast is more visible in India than elsewhere - with slums next to high rises. I think the reason for this is that growth is relatively narrowly focussed around a few metros, which then attracts a big influx of job seeking rural population. The other big countries never had such a big rural population to begin with.