To benchmark and monitor income inequality and poverty across countries, the OECD relies on a dedicated statistical database: the OECD Income Distribution Database which offers data on levels and trends in Gini coefficients before and after taxes and transfers, average and median household disposable incomes, relative poverty rates and poverty gaps, before and after taxes and transfers, etc. Due to the increasing importance of income inequality and poverty issues in policy discussion, the database is now annually updated. If you would like to be informed by email when the database is updated, please contact ELS-STDIncome.contact@oecd.org.

IDD Database

20 July 2020: New data are available for Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom (income year 2018), the Slovak Republic (income year 2017) and Switzerland (income years 2016 and 2017). Data have been revised for Belgium and Ireland (income year 2017). See data: by Measure (in OECD.Stat) by Country (in OECD.Stat) Metadata: Sources and income years (2-page, .pdf) and Country-specific detailed  information for latest year and Wave 7 (71 pages, .xlsx) Key indicators (Table in .xlsx) for latest years on Ginis, Income shares, Poverty (relative & "anchored" in 2005) by age group and for working households in OECD Regions (module based on 2010 income data only) see Insights (2-page, .pdf) and Data sources and reference years (2-page, .pdf) in Metropolitan areas Income Levels And Inequality in Metropolitan Areas: A Comparative Approach in OECD Countries (working paper, 2016) OECD (2016), Making Cities Work for All: Data and Actions for Inclusive Growth 13 December 2018: Inequalities in emerging economies: Informing the policy dialogue on inclusive growth, OECD Statistics Working Papers, No. 2018/13    November 2016: Release of OECD Inequality Update 2016 "Income inequality remains high in the face of weak recovery" 6-page report (.pdf) figures and data (.xlsx) See also: Wealth distribution database (WDD) - and: Inequalities in household wealth across OECD countries: Evidence from the OECD Wealth Distribution Database, OECD Statistics Working Papers, No. 2018/01 (June 2018) Issues note of OECD Conference on wealth inequalities: measurement and policies (April 2018) Household wealth inequality across OECD countries: new OECD evidence (OECD Statistics Brief No. 21)

 

METHODs and concepts 

Terms of reference of OECD project on the distribution of household incomes, using: 2012 onwards definition (Wave 7) definition until 2011 (Wave 6) What are equivalence scales? Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics - see:      - Handbook on household income statistics (Second edition - 2011)      - Report and Recommendations (First edition - 2001) Meetings of providers of OECD Income Distribution data: 18-19 February 2016  21-22 February 2013 16-17 March 2009: Joint OECD/University of Maryland International Conference Measuring Poverty, Income Inequality, and Social Exclusion - Lessons from Europe, Measurement of Low Incomes and Poverty in a Perspective of International Comparisons; Labour Market and Social Policy Occasional Paper No.14 (1994)

OTHER INTERNATIONAL DATABASES RELATED TO INCOME DISTRIBUTION

• Income and living conditions in Europe (Eurostat)
• Luxembourg Income Study (LIS)
• The World Wealth and Income Database (Paris School of Economics)
• All The Ginis Dataset (World Bank)
• Chartbook of Economic Inequality (Atkinson and Morelli) 

Quality reviews

This quality review (December 2012) is in three main parts: -Part I reports the results of a first self-assessment of different quality dimensions of the OECD Database on Household Income Distribution and Poverty (.pdf) -Part II assesses the cross-country comparability of the OECD Earnings Distribution Database (.pdf) -Part III provides detailed country data reviews on income distribution data, for the 34 OECD member countries. These country reviews compare the OECD benchmark series for income distribution and poverty reporting with alternative estimates which are available on a national or international basis -  each country separately (.pdf) including revised versions: Australia Austria Belgium Canada Chile Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Korea Luxembourg Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Poland Portugal Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom United States

See also external Review of the OECD Income Distribution Database - The Journal of Economic Inequality - December 2015, Volume 13, Issue 4,  pp 579–602

THE new 2020 edition of the OECD "COMPARE YOUR INCOME" WEB TOOL    

How much do you earn compared with others in your country? Do you feel rich, poor, or just average? In only a few clicks, you can see where you fit in your country's income distribution. This new 2020 edition explores how your perceptions of income inequality impact your willingness to support redistribution initiatives, and allows you to have a say in what areas are most important to you for public spending.