Gini Coefficient
The Gini coefficient is the most widely used single-number summary of inequality in a distribution such as income or wealth. Introduced by the Italian statistician Corrado Gini in 1912, it equals twice the area between the Lorenz curve and the line of perfect equality, ranging from 0 when everyone has the same amount to a maximum approaching 1 when one unit holds everything.
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Sources
- Ceriani, L., & Verme, P. (2012). The origins of the Gini index: extracts from Variabilità e Mutabilità (1912) by Corrado Gini. The Journal of Economic Inequality, 10(3), 421–443. DOI: 10.1007/s10888-011-9188-x ↗
- Lorenz, M. O. (1905). Methods of measuring the concentration of wealth. Publications of the American Statistical Association, 9(70), 209–219. DOI: 10.2307/2276207 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Gini Coefficient of Inequality. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/sociology/gini-coefficient
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
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