Graph Showing Income Inequality

A lorenz curve is a graphical representation of income inequality or wealth inequality developed by american economist max lorenz in 1905.

Graph showing income inequality. This disappointing living standards growth which was in fact caused by rising income inequality preceded the great recession and continues to this day. Income inequality among individuals is measured here by five indicators. Hover over each line to identify household income and click through to see the percentage growth over the past 40 years. Our country has suffered from rising income inequality and chronically slow growth in the living standards of low and moderate income americans.

Income disparities are so pronounced that america s top 10 percent now average more than nine times as much income as the bottom 90 percent according to data analyzed by uc berkeley economist emmanuel saez. The wealth inequality problem in one chart it s clear that america s financial and political systems are broken. Children growing up poor in baltimore maryland will make 17 percent less than the average low income american by the time they. This is much longer than other estimates of income inequality allow as is the case with estimates that rely on income survey data.

Figure 2 presents an alternative way of showing inequality data in what is called a lorenz curve. For example you could draw a bar graph that showed the share of income going to each fifth of the income distribution. The data on income inequality can be presented in various ways. The chart of the week is a weekly visual capitalist feature on fridays.

Here s the story of income inequality in america over the past 40 years. The gini coefficient is based on the comparison of cumulative proportions of the population against cumulative proportions of income they receive and it ranges between 0 in the case of perfect equality and 1 in the case of perfect inequality. S80 s20 is the ratio of the. It seems that people don t agree on much these days but there is one growing exception to that rule.

The graph plots percentiles of the population on the. Income inequality refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population. Historical top income inequality estimates are reconstructed from income tax records and for many countries these estimates give us insights into the evolution of inequality over more than 100 years.