Gini and Goldie

There is this website, which tells you where you sit in the list of the richest people in the world. I entered the annual income of the Francis family and was happy to find that we lie in the top 7% in the world. My joy was short lived when Goldie told me that she was in the top 0.7% of the world! Now Goldie is younger than the youngest Francis (that would be me!) and still earns more than all of us put together! It didn't feel very good. I mean someone whom I have beaten in every semester of engineering, doesn't deserve to earn that much more than us!!

That is when I read about the Gini coefficient. Some background on that. A Gini coefficient of 0, means everyone in a country earns the exact same amount. On the other hand, a Gini coefficient of 100 means that all the wealth of the nation is earned by a single individual. (which made me wonder as to what would be the Gini coefficient of a one individual nation!)

Getting back, countries like Sweden and Denmark have Gini coefficients of 30, the lowest in the spectrum. India on the other hand, like most developing countries has a Gini coefficient of 45. But the catch is that, if you look at the world as a whole, it has a Gini coefficient of 70!

Which goes to tell you that how much you earn doesn't depend on the skills and intellect you possess, but rather on the geography where you work!

There you go Goldie :P

Goldie, is a very eligible Kokanastha Brahmin, currently living the American dream. And she has the memory span of a goldfish!