Data on the share of national income going to the richest people are scarcely available for developing countries. However, other measures support the argument that countries are becoming more unequal. For instance, between 1988 and 2008, the Gini coefficient increased in 58 countries for which data are available.13 Seven out of every 10 people in the world live in countries where inequality has increased.14 Rising levels of inequality are also an important feature of populous middle-income countries. These countries matter because they are where most of the world’s poor now live. Prior to globalization, these were low-income countries with significantly lower levels of inequality. Economic growth, however, has graduated them into middle-income status and has driven a wedge between the haves and have-nots.
RISING LEVELS OF INEQUALITY IN FIVE MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES Figure 2 shows the extent to which inequalities are increasing. They show that in Indonesia, China, India, Pakistan and Nigeria – all lower middle-income countries except for China, which is now classed as upper middle-income – the richest 10 percent of the population have acquired a much greater share of national income than the poorest 40 percent over the past 30 years, with the trend set to continue. Figure 2: Increasing inequality in selected middle-income countries
Indonesia
40 35
30 Income share held by highest 10%
25
Income share held by lowest 40%
20 15 10 1981 1987 1993 1999 2005 2010
China
40
35 30
Income share held by highest 10%
25
Income share held by lowest 40%
20
15 10 1981
1987
1993
1999
2005
2011
7