The data in the chart at left comes from the World Bank (2007) and the U.N. Development Program.
The Gini index is used to measure inequality between rich and poor people in a nation. The Gini-coefficient of inequality is the most
commonly used measure of inequality, according to the World Bank (source). The range is from 0,
which reflects complete equality, to 100, which indicates complete
inequality. Thus the greater the inequality, the higher the number.
In the chart here, the Gini indexes for 126 countries were used. Another 50 countries were omitted because the Gini index was not available for thise countries. The omitted countries are Angola,
Antigua and Barbuda,
Bahamas,
Bahrain,
Barbados,
Belize,
Bhutan,
Brunei Darussalam,
Cape Verde,
Chad,
Comoros,
Congo,
Congo (Democratic Republic of the),
Cuba,
Cyprus,
Djibouti,
Dominica,
Equatorial Guinea,
Eritrea,
Fiji,
Gabon,
Grenada,
Guyana,
Iceland,
Kuwait,
Lebanon,
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,
Luxembourg,
Maldives,
Malta,
Mauritius,
Myanmar,
Occupied Palestinian Territories,
Oman,
Qatar,
Saint Kitts and Nevis,
Saint Lucia,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
Samoa,
Sao Tome and Principe,
Saudi Arabia,
Seychelles,
Solomon Islands,
Sudan,
Suriname,
Syrian Arab Republic,
Timor-L'Este,
Togo,
Tonga,
United Arab Emirates, and
Vanuatu.
This style of chart is called a block histogram. It shows the distribution of numeric values in a dataset. Thus, when you see a country clumped up with a lot of other countries, it is clear which countries have a similar condition. When countries are isolated at either the left (more equality) or right (more inequality), it is clear that those countries are unusual.
