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Inequality in NZ
World leader in inequality!
Aotearoa New Zealand has one of the worst rates of income inequality compared to other developed or wealthy countries. In two decades we have gone from being one of the most equal to become one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.
Inequality increased faster than in any other OECD country.
Most of the increase was due to larger rises in overall incomes for the top 20% of income earners.
Incomes for the bottom 20% actually decreased over the two decades from the mid-1980s.
Since 2004 (the most recent available international comparisons), income inequality in New Zealand has decreased slightly. But we can expect that income inequality will have increased since the last published figures from 2009 because of the impacts of tax cuts, GST changes and wage movement.
Why does high inequality matter?
High levels of inequality mean worse health and social problems - read about the Index of Health and Social Problems in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Growing inequality has been accompanied by growing overall poverty levels in New Zealand. See how poverty and inequality have moved together over time on Gapminder Poverty rate/ Gini comparison below:
(Visualization from Gapminder World, powered by Trendalyzer from www.gapminder.org).
Find out more about inequality in New Zealand
Social Report 2010 - Income Inequality
Inequality in NZ: How bad? Does it matter? What can we do about it?
Children's Health Monitor on Inequality