Income share of the poorest 20% — all countries

Income share of the poorest 20% — Australia

Income share of the poorest 20% in Australia in 2020 — 7.2%. Ranked 35 in the world out of 70. Since 1981, the indicator has fallen by 0.5 pp.

2020 7.2% −0.1 pp vs 2018
World rank 35of 70
Period maximum 7.7%1981
Period minimum 7.2%2008

Trend over time

1981–2020 · % of income

Income share of the poorest 20% — Australia, 1981–20207.27.47.67.8198119851989199319972001200520092013201720201981: 7.7%1985: 7.5%1989: 7.3%1995: 7.6%2001: 7.4%2003: 7.4%2004: 7.7%2008: 7.2%2010: 7.3%2014: 7.4%2016: 7.4%2018: 7.3%2020: 7.2%
Change over the period: −0.5 pp Annual average: -0.01 pp
Income share of the poorest 20% — Australia, by year Australia All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2020 7.2 —
2018 7.3 —
2016 7.4 —
2014 7.4 —
2010 7.3 —
2008 7.2 —
2004 7.7 +0.3 pp
2003 7.4 —
2001 7.4 —
1995 7.6 —
1989 7.3 —
1985 7.5 —
1981 7.7 —

About the indicator

The share of total income or consumption that goes to the poorest twenty percent of the population. Under complete equality it would be twenty percent; in the most equal countries it comes to about nine, in the most unequal to about three. The indicator reads more plainly than the Gini index: instead of collapsing the whole distribution into a single number, it says outright how much goes to those who get the least.

Important: There are no aggregates for country groups: the top and bottom quintiles of a group are not a union of national quintiles, and they cannot be computed from country shares. The same reason as with the Gini index.

Source: World Development Indicators (World Bank), license CC BY 4.0.