This report provides evidence on income distribution and poverty in 27 OECD countries over the second half of the 1990s, using data that correct for many of the features that limit cross-country and intertemporal comparisons in this field. Patterns for income distribution and relative poverty in the second half of the 1990s — a period of significant improvement in labour market conditions in most OECD countries — conform to many of the longer-term trends identified in previous OECD analysis, but also highlight some significant departures.

• Inequality in the distribution of household disposable income among the total population increased slightly over the second half of the 1990s, continuing the trend of the previous decade.

• Relative poverty, measured with respect to a threshold set at half of median income, affected in 2000 around 11% of the OECD population, with an increase since the mid-1990s that is similar to that of the previous decade. Absolute income poverty, which had declined ...