The most unequal countries in Latin America

According to the latest data from the World Bank, six Latin American countries are among the 14 with greatest economic inequality in the world, although the top five positions are held by African countries. The World Bank measures inequality based on the Gini coefficient, which varies between zero (total equality) and one (maximum inequality), and is expressed as a percentage. It must be kept in mind that the countries with the greatest inequality are not necessarily the poorest, since inequality depends on the disparity of income in the population, on how wealth is distributed. There may be rich countries with high inequality – the United States being a clear example of this -.

The country with the greatest inequality in Latin America is, according to the World Bank, Honduras, which with a Gini index of 53.7 is sixth in the world ranking. However, in Honduras, 42.5% of the population has an income below 2.5 dollars/day. Despite the fact that, as reported by the BBC, Colombia is 74 places above Honduras in terms of GDP, in terms of Gini coefficient Colombia follows closely with a value of 53.5. In third place with 52.9, and eighth worldwide, is Brazil, where in 2012 the richest 5% of the population obtained 44% of total income.

Guatemala (with a Gini of 52.4) is ninth in the world; eight out of 10 people are poor in half of rural Guatemalan municipalities. Panama is tenth in the world with a Gini index of 51.7, despite the fact that its average growth in the last decade is 7%. And last on this list, Chile, despite being commonly used as a model of economic success for the region, is 14th in the global ranking with an index of 50.5. According to OECD data, the richest 10% of Chileans earn 27 times more than the poorest 10% of the population.