The Gini index, or Gini coefficient, is a summary measure of income inequality representing how income distribution varies compared with an equal outcome. States with the lowest Gini index figures ...

To illustrate this, if the lower half of the income distribution has no income at all, and income is equally distributed across the upper half of the population, the Gini coefficient will be 0.5.

Articles, studies and U.S. Census data focusing on wealth inequality rely on the Gini coefficient. How is it calculated, and what does it tell us? Frank Cowell, an economist at the London School ...

The World Bank's estimate of the Gini Index for the US was 41.1, and China at 42.1, both slightly higher than the average among all countries of 38.8.