Income inequality in Malta has been widening whilst that in the
EU and has been narrowing. This is one of the most striking
conclusions about income distribution in Malta drawn from an IMF
Staff Discussion Note published late last month and based on
Eurostat and World Bank Statistics. Between 2005 and 2010, the
so-called Gini coefficient that measures inequality has
increased from 26.9 to 28.4 (a higher number means a more
unequal distribution; 0.000 means everyone has the same income;
1.000 means one person has all the income). Malta’s coefficient
compares with a drop of 30.6 to 30.5 in the EU27 and a rise from
29.2 to 30.2 in the Eurozone. Having said that, one also notes
that in 2011 the coefficient in Malta narrowed to 27.4
(comparable EU/Eurozone are not available). Although the Gini
coefficient is sensitive to what happens to income shares in the
tails of the income distribution, it is more sensitive to
changes in shares in the middle of the distribution. For this
reason, it is common to supplement the