Gini coefficient

An indicator designed to measure inequality of income and wealth. It ranges from zero, which indicates perfect equality, with every household earning or owning exactly the same, to one, which implies absolute inequality, with a single household earning a country's entire income or owning all its wealth. African countries tend to have high Gini coefficients; European countries tend to have low ones. Among rich countries, America has a relatively high coefficient (see this article for more detail). Despite being a notionally communist country, China has a higher coefficient than many rich countries (for more, read this article).