Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax in Malaysia
Malaysia: Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax was 0.4525 in 2022. ▼ Falling
Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax in Malaysia, 1984–2022
Source: World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
The most recent figure for income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Malaysia is 0.4525, measured in 2022.
The figure is up 2.1% on the previous year and down 9.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Malaysia peaked at 0.5556 in 1997 and was at its lowest, 0.4434, in 2019.
That places Malaysia 76th out of 109 countries with data for 2022, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 15 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.5495 | 0.5492 | 0.5497 | 3 |
| 1990s | 0.5525 | 0.5471 | 0.5556 | 3 |
| 2000s | 0.5314 | 0.5249 | 0.5438 | 4 |
| 2010s | 0.4652 | 0.4434 | 0.5003 | 4 |
| 2020s | 0.4525 | 0.4525 | 0.4525 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Malaysia
- 73 Montenegro 0.4597 compare
- 74 Albania 0.454 compare
- 75 Moldova 0.4534 compare
- 77 Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.4454 compare
- 78 South Korea 0.4321 compare
- 79 Latvia 0.4247 compare
More poverty & inequality data for Malaysia
- 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 1.55 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 3,524 kg per hectare (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 12.6% (2023)
- Gender Inequality Index 0.172 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient in women 0.1011 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient by sex 0.1011 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient in men 0.1209 (2023)
- Share of government consumption in GDP vs. share of population living in extreme poverty 12.5% (2023)
- Income inequality: Atkinson index 0.2476 (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Malaysia?
- Income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Malaysia was 0.4525 in 2022, 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 Malaysia?
- The highest recorded value was 0.5556 in 1997.
- What is the lowest income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax recorded in Malaysia?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.4434 in 2019.
- How does Malaysia rank for income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax?
- Malaysia ranks 76th out of 109 countries with data for 2022.
- Is income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax rising or falling in Malaysia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 9.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Malaysia 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.