Income inequality vs. GDP per capita in China
China: Income inequality vs. GDP per capita was 0.3602 in 2022. ▲ Rising
Income inequality vs. GDP per capita in China, 1981–2022
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
The most recent figure for income inequality vs. gdp per capita in China is 0.3602, measured in 2022.
The figure is up 0.8% on the previous year and down 14.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, income inequality vs. gdp per capita in China peaked at 0.4375 in 2010 and was at its lowest, 0.271, in 1984.
That places China 47th out of 120 countries with data for 2022, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 23 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.2822 | 0.271 | 0.2939 | 3 |
| 1990s | 0.3501 | 0.3223 | 0.387 | 4 |
| 2000s | 0.4195 | 0.409 | 0.4296 | 3 |
| 2010s | 0.4001 | 0.3817 | 0.4375 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.3628 | 0.3574 | 0.3709 | 3 |
Countries ranked near China
More poverty & inequality data for China
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 7 surveys (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 0.999 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 6,418 kg per hectare (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 22.1% (2023)
- Gender Inequality Index 0.132 (2023)
- Share of government consumption in GDP vs. share of population living in extreme poverty 13.4% (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient in women 0.0853 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient by sex 0.0853 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient in men 0.1012 (2023)
- Income inequality: Atkinson index 0.3029 (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is income inequality vs. gdp per capita in China?
- Income inequality vs. gdp per capita in China was 0.3602 in 2022, 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 China?
- The highest recorded value was 0.4375 in 2010.
- What is the lowest income inequality vs. gdp per capita recorded in China?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.271 in 1984.
- How does China rank for income inequality vs. gdp per capita?
- China ranks 47th out of 120 countries with data for 2022.
- Is income inequality vs. gdp per capita rising or falling in China?
- Over the last ten years it is down 14.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this China 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 — 23 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.