Gini coefficient in the context of "List of countries by income equality"

Economic inequality is an umbrella term for three concepts: income inequality, how the total sum of money paid to people is distributed among them; wealth inequality, how the total sum of wealth owned by people is distributed among the owners; and consumption inequality, how the total sum of money spent by people is distributed among the spenders. Each of these can be measured between two or more nations, within a single nation, or between and within sub-populations (such as within a low-income group, within a high-income group and between them, within an age group and between inter-generational groups, within a gender group and between them etc, either from one or from multiple nations).

Income inequality metrics are used for measuring income inequality, the Gini coefficient being a widely used one. Another type of measurement is the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, which is a statistic composite index that takes inequality into account. Important concepts of equality include equity, equality of outcome, and equality of opportunity.

Negotiations to end apartheid began in 1990 and continued until President Nelson Mandela's electoral victory as South Africa's first Black president in the first democratic all-races general election of 1994. This signified the legislative end of apartheid in South Africa, a system of widespread racially-based segregation to enforce almost complete separation of white and Black races in South Africa. Before the legislative end of apartheid, whites had held almost complete control over all political and socioeconomic power in South Africa during apartheid, only allowing acquiescent Black traditional leaders to participate in facades of political power. Repercussions from the decades of apartheid continue to resonate through every facet of South African life, despite copious amounts of legislation meant to alleviate inequalities.

Post-apartheid South Africa struggles to correct the social inequalities created by decades of apartheid. White nepotism remains a considerable obstacle to economic gain and political influence for Black South Africans. Despite a growing gross domestic product, indices for poverty, unemployment, income inequality, life expectancy and land ownership, have declined. No industry in the economy has over 50% ownership by Black individuals in terms of their share even though 81.4% of the South African population is Black. The end of the apartheid system in South Africa has largely not changed the socioeconomic stratification by race. A small subset of the Black population have been able to create a Black middle class that did not exist during apartheid, but otherwise, the large majority of Black people in South Africa have yet to experience a difference in economic class since apartheid was abolished. International measures of inequality, such as the Gini coefficient, report that inequalities within races has greatly increased since the end of apartheid, even when overall inequalities are slightly improved. High levels of Black unemployment coupled with a rising Black population remains one of the biggest problems, particularly for women and the uneducated or unskilled.

International inequality refers to inequality between countries, as compared to global inequality, which is inequality between people across countries. International inequality research has primarily been concentrated on the rise of international income inequality, but other aspects include educational and health inequality, as well as differences in medical access. Reducing inequality within and among countries is the 10th goal of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring that no-one is left behind is central to achieving them. Inequality can be measured by metrics such as the Gini coefficient.

According to the United Nations Human Development Report 2004, the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in countries with high, medium and low human development (a classification based on the UN Human Development Index) was 24,806, 4,269 and 1,184 PPP$, respectively (PPP$ = purchasing power parity measured in United States dollars).

Corrado Gini (23 May 1884 – 13 March 1965) was an Italian statistician, demographer and sociologist who developed the Gini coefficient, a measure of the income inequality in a society. Gini was a proponent of organicism and applied it to nations. Gini was a eugenicist, and prior to and during World War II, he was an advocate of Italian Fascism. Following the war, he founded the Italian Unionist Movement, which advocated for the annexation of Italy by the United States.