Prime Minister Mario Draghi, in his speech to win confidence in the Senate, spoke of: Gini coefficient, In part of the speech that focused on inequality in Italy. Specifically, Draghi explained that only in 2020, the year of the pandemic, the modulus is By 4 points. This is a metric often used as a measure of concentration, especially income or wealth. Let’s see what, specifically, is a Gini coefficient or index, how it is calculated and what it is used for.
What is the Gini coefficient that Draghi passed on in the Senate
In 1912, the Italian statistician Corrado Jenny (1884-1965) introduced the Gini coefficient, which measures the inequality of a distribution. It is a number between 0 and 100 (as a percentage), where zero corresponds to a perfect isometric distribution and 100 to its maximum concentration.
The same status It provides a very precise definition:Single Gene Concentration Index A synthetic measure of the degree of inequality in a distribution. This index is equal to zero in the case of a fully equitable distribution, that is, in the assumption that all households have the same income or the same wealth; It is instead equal to 100 in the case of total inequality, assuming that total income or wealth is allocated to one family“.
In the case of income distribution, for example, the zero value of the Gini coefficient indicates a situation in which everyone has the same income, while the value of 100 occurs when one family receives all the income while all the others have no income.
How is the Gini index calculated
Of course, neither extreme values ​​are found in reality, but it is clear that a country with a Gini coefficient closer to zero for wealth will be a more equitable country, while in a country with a higher coefficient there will be greater disparities.
The mathematical definition of the Gini coefficient is based on the Lorenz curve of wealth distribution. Specifically, Treccani explains that the scale is defined as the ratio between the area between the straight line 45 ° of isometric distribution and the Lorenz curve (A) and the entire area below the line of equal distribution, which is equal to 0.5 (A + B).
Gini coefficient: How Italy is positioned
The Gini index was developed by an Italian but is believed to be internationally reliable, and it is a benchmark used around the world to measure wealth inequality in various countries. According to TrueNumbers.it, Italy has one of the highest indicators in Europe. The worst of them are Spain, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria. Thus Italy is the second highest Gini index in Western Europe.
Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Finland lead the way in Europe.
In 2017, the World Bank put a value for our country at 35.9, while today, according to a study by the Bank of Italy, it is 41.1.
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