Data for 1987

Gini Index of Disposable Income (SWIID), 1987

1987, as Frederick Solt’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Gini Index of Disposable Income (SWIID), 1987 covers 82 countries on 2 measures. South Africa is highest, at 60.8; Finland is lowest, at 20.7. The middle country reads 39.5. Against 1986, 59 values changed (43 up, 16 down), 5 countries joined.

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Gini Index of Disposable Income (SWIID) · Data for 1987

HighestSouth Africa

60.8

LowestFinland

20.7

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end. A higher value is the worse result.

82countries
2measures per country
1987the year it describes
73distinct values1 decimal, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
Public domain or CC0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Gini Index of Disposable Income (SWIID), 1987, as published. Frederick Solt ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 82 countries · select a heading to sort

Gini Index of Disposable Income (SWIID), 1987: every country, as published by Frederick Solt, University of Iowa.
derived
1	South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa	60.8	2.82
2	BotswanaBWASouthern Africa	55.9	3.40
3	BrazilBRASouth America	54.6	0.51
4	PeruPERSouth America	53.8	2.58
5	LesothoLSOSouthern Africa	53.7	3.66
6	ZambiaZMBEastern Africa	53.1	3.40
7	EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa	52.0	3.87
8	ChileCHLSouth America	50.7	0.76
9	GuatemalaGTMCentral America	50.3	2.11
10	MalawiMWIEastern Africa	49.7	3.56
11	PanamaPANCentral America	49.3	1.52
12	ColombiaCOLSouth America	49.1	2.44
13	KenyaKENEastern Africa	48.8	3.18
14	Puerto RicoPRICaribbean	48.5	3.41
15	Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa	47.3	2.00
16	MexicoMEXCentral America	47.0	1.73
17	Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean	45.8	2.62
18	SudanSDNNorthern Africa	45.7	4.49
19	BarbadosBRBCaribbean	45.1	3.57
20	Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa	44.9	3.78
21	ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia	44.4	1.83
22	MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia	44.3	2.00
23	MadagascarMDGEastern Africa	44.2	3.22
24	IranIRNSouthern Asia	43.9	1.26
25	RwandaRWAEastern Africa	43.1	3.41
26	NigeriaNGAWestern Africa	42.5	3.46
27	Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean	42.4	3.09
28	FijiFJIMelanesia	42.0	3.23
=29	PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia	41.9	2.18
=29	TunisiaTUNNorthern Africa	41.9	2.87
31	MauritaniaMRTWestern Africa	41.8	3.21
=32	ArgentinaARGSouth America	41.6	1.25
=32	Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia	41.6	2.16
34	IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia	40.7	1.54
35	TürkiyeTURWestern Asia	40.6	2.06
36	VenezuelaVENSouth America	40.5	1.62
=37	TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa	40.3	2.82
=37	UruguayURYSouth America	40.3	1.50
39	MoroccoMARNorthern Africa	40.1	2.50
40	JordanJORWestern Asia	39.8	2.31
41	IndiaINDSouthern Asia	39.7	1.48
42	Costa RicaCRICentral America	39.3	1.49
43	GhanaGHAWestern Africa	39.0	2.62
44	Hong KongHKGEastern Asia	37.9	3.05
45	MauritiusMUSEastern Africa	37.5	3.04
=46	KuwaitKWTWestern Asia	36.8	3.55
=46	NepalNPLSouthern Asia	36.8	2.95
48	SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia	36.7	2.69
49	TongaTONPolynesia	35.2	3.02
50	LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe	34.2	1.07
51	PakistanPAKSouthern Asia	34.1	1.49
52	United StatesUSANorthern America	34.0	0.37
=53	GreeceGRCSouthern Europe	33.7	1.54
=53	South KoreaKOREastern Asia	33.7	1.34
55	PortugalPRTSouthern Europe	33.4	2.68
56	IrelandIRLNorthern Europe	32.8	1.34
57	EgyptEGYNorthern Africa	32.5	2.54
=58	ItalyITASouthern Europe	32.1	0.88
=58	SpainESPSouthern Europe	32.1	0.66
60	IsraelISRWestern Asia	31.1	0.97
=61	SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe	30.8	2.06
=61	United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe	30.8	0.85
63	CyprusCYPWestern Asia	30.4	2.54
=64	ChinaCHNEastern Asia	30.0	1.00
=64	FranceFRAWestern Europe	30.0	1.31
66	AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand	29.5	1.14
67	BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia	29.4	1.91
68	CanadaCANNorthern America	28.9	0.48
69	TaiwanTWNEastern Asia	27.5	0.84
70	New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand	27.2	0.95
=71	JapanJPNEastern Asia	25.7	1.02
=71	PolandPOLEastern Europe	25.7	0.67
73	GermanyDEUWestern Europe	25.2	0.76
74	NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe	24.8	0.86
75	UkraineUKREastern Europe	24.7	1.58
76	DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe	24.3	0.62
77	BelgiumBELWestern Europe	23.3	1.13
78	NorwayNORNorthern Europe	22.4	0.74
79	HungaryHUNEastern Europe	22.2	0.92
80	SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe	21.3	1.22
81	SwedenSWENorthern Europe	21.1	0.55
82	FinlandFINNorthern Europe	20.7	0.48

02In 1987

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

1South Africa60.8
2Botswana55.9
3Brazil54.6
4Peru53.8
5Lesotho53.7

Lowest

82Finland20.7
81Sweden21.1
80Slovenia21.3
79Hungary22.2
78Norway22.4

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 39.5. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Standard error of the estimate (Gini points)
HighestSudan4.49
LowestUnited States0.37
Middle country: 1.96

031986 → 1987

Since 1986

What changed between 1986 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+5 / −0countries joined / left
59values changed, of 77 in both
43 · 16rose · fell
18unchanged

Rose most

Denmark22.8 → 24.3+1.5
United Kingdom29.7 → 30.8+1.1
Panama48.3 → 49.3+1.0
Brazil53.8 → 54.6+0.8
China29.2 → 30.0+0.8

Fell most

Luxembourg38.7 → 34.2−4.5
Norway23.3 → 22.4−0.9
Spain33.0 → 32.1−0.9
Poland26.5 → 25.7−0.8
Ukraine25.5 → 24.7−0.8

+ Ghana

+ Mauritania

+ Mauritius

+ Slovenia

+ Türkiye

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

The site’s method

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from Frederick Solt’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1987.
73 distinct values among 82
Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 2 countries share 41.9. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
The position is ours
Frederick Solt publishes values only. The order here sorts the published values, and the page says so wherever it prints one.
Which end is better
A higher value is the worse result.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 82 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
82 rows · 3.2 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download gini-disposable-income-1987-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
Frederick Solt’s own file, on its own site.
13657070

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC0 1.0. No conditions at all. Crediting the publisher is still the courteous thing to do.

Cite this edition

Frederick Solt, University of Iowa (1987). Gini Index of Disposable Income (SWIID), 1987 [data set], describing 1987. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/gini-disposable-income/1987

0644 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Gini Index of Disposable Income (SWIID), 1986
77 countries
The year after ›
Gini Index of Disposable Income (SWIID), 1988
103 countries
All of them
Gini Index of Disposable Income (SWIID): every year
44 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions