Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax in Malawi
Malawi: Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax was 0.5498 in 2019. ▼ Falling
Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax in Malawi, 1997–2019
Source: World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2019, income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Malawi stood at 0.5498. That is the lowest value across all 5 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 12.4% on the previous year and down 11.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Malawi peaked at 0.8088 in 1997 and was at its lowest, 0.5498, in 2019.
That places Malawi 36th out of 109 countries with data for 2019, putting it in the middle of the range.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.8088 | 0.8088 | 0.8088 | 1 |
| 2000s | 0.5928 | 0.5928 | 0.5928 | 1 |
| 2010s | 0.6006 | 0.5498 | 0.6279 | 3 |
Countries ranked near Malawi
More poverty & inequality data for Malawi
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 2 surveys (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 3.65 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 1,857 kg per hectare (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 15.1% (2023)
- Gender Inequality Index 0.581 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient in women 0.1477 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient by sex 0.1477 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient in men 0.1766 (2023)
- Share of government consumption in GDP vs. share of population living in extreme poverty 7.4% (2023)
- Income inequality: Atkinson index 0.3925 (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Malawi?
- Income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Malawi was 0.5498 in 2019, according to World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 0.8088 in 1997.
- What is the lowest income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.5498 in 2019.
- How does Malawi rank for income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax?
- Malawi ranks 36th out of 109 countries with data for 2019.
- Is income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is down 11.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Malawi data come from?
- The figures come from World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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About this data
The Gini coefficient measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher inequality. Inequality is measured here in terms of income after taxes and benefits.