UN: Japan among countries with smallest gap between rich and poor

Recently, the U.N. Human Development Program issued a report for 2009 that among other many other things, looks at income inequality in countries and regions around the world.

Based on the Gini score in the report, Daily Onigiri ranked among world’s most advanced economies 6 countries with the smallest and 6 countries with the widest gap between rich and poor. Gini score indicates level of income inequality and works like this: 0 means absolute equality and 100 means absolute inequality.

Among countries with the most equality, Japan ranks 2nd right after Denmark, while Hong Kong has the biggest inequality.

Countries with the smallest gap between rich and poor

1. Denmark (Gini score: 24.7)
2. Japan (Gini score: 24.9)
3. Sweden (Gini score: 25.0)
4. Norway (Gini score: 25.8)
5. Czech Republic (Gini score: 25.8)
6. Finland (Gini score: 26.9)

Countries with the biggest gap between rich and poor

1. Hong Kong SAR, China (Gini score: 43.4)
2. Singapore (Gini score: 42.5)
3. United States of America (Gini score: 40.8)
4. Israel (Gini score: 39.2)
5. Portugal (Gini score: 38.5)
6. New Zealand (Gini score: 36.2)

The United Nations Human Development Report 2009 can be downloaded in full as a PDF file on this page.