Income inequality vs. GDP per capita in Australia
Australia: Income inequality vs. GDP per capita was 0.3383 in 2020. ▲ Rising
Income inequality vs. GDP per capita in Australia, 1981–2020
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2020, income inequality vs. gdp per capita in Australia stood at 0.3383.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 1.5% on the previous year and down 2.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, income inequality vs. gdp per capita in Australia peaked at 0.3543 in 2008 and was at its lowest, 0.3132, in 1981.
That places Australia 62nd out of 120 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 13 years of available data.
Income inequality vs. GDP per capita in Australia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 0.3132 | — |
| 1985 | 0.325 | +3.7% |
| 1989 | 0.3315 | +2.0% |
| 1995 | 0.3258 | -1.7% |
| 2001 | 0.3346 | +2.7% |
| 2003 | 0.335 | +0.1% |
| 2004 | 0.3306 | -1.3% |
| 2008 | 0.3543 | +7.2% |
| 2010 | 0.3466 | -2.2% |
| 2014 | 0.344 | -0.7% |
| 2016 | 0.3369 | -2.1% |
| 2018 | 0.3433 | +1.9% |
| 2020 | 0.3383 | -1.5% |
Australia compared with similar countries
- Australia's 0.3383 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.3209, 1.1× the median. (42 countries reporting)
- Australia's 0.3383 is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.3443, 98% of the median. (11 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.3233 | 0.3132 | 0.3315 | 3 |
| 1990s | 0.3258 | 0.3258 | 0.3258 | 1 |
| 2000s | 0.3386 | 0.3306 | 0.3543 | 4 |
| 2010s | 0.3427 | 0.3369 | 0.3466 | 4 |
| 2020s | 0.3383 | 0.3383 | 0.3383 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Australia
More poverty & inequality data for Australia
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 3 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 1.64 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 2,690 kg per hectare (2024)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate -0.0446 % change on previous year (2024)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 30.36 (2022)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 30.4% (2022)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is income inequality vs. gdp per capita in Australia?
- Income inequality vs. gdp per capita in Australia was 0.3383 in 2020, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest income inequality vs. gdp per capita recorded in Australia?
- The highest recorded value was 0.3543 in 2008.
- What is the lowest income inequality vs. gdp per capita recorded in Australia?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.3132 in 1981.
- How does Australia rank for income inequality vs. gdp per capita?
- Australia ranks 62nd out of 120 countries with data for 2020.
- Is income inequality vs. gdp per capita rising or falling in Australia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 2.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Australia data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Income inequality vs. GDP per capita. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 13 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The Gini coefficient measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher inequality.