Thursday, October 23, 2008

OECD Spotlight on Statistics

A new feature of OECD news spotlights timely statistics of topical interest:

Rich man, poor man
posted Wednesday, October 22, 2008 5:09 PM

"Income inequality grew in most OECD countries between the mid 1980s and the mid 2000s. On average the income of the richest 10 percent of the population is now almost nine times higher than the poorest 10 percent. In Denmark and Sweden the gap is narrower with the richest 10% earning on average less than five times the poorest.

Only a few countries bucked the trend: France, Greece and Spain moved towards greater equality of incomes over the past 20 years.

The United States has one of the highest levels of inequality with the average earnings of the richest 10 % of the population 16 times higher than the poorest 10 percent. The gap between rich and poor in the US has also widened more rapidly than in most other countries over the past 20 years."

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