Although still below the European average, the level of egalitarianism in Poland has improved in recent years, reads the latest report by the EU’s Statistics on Income and Living Conditions office.
It all boils down to the Gini coefficient – a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income distribution of a nation’s residents.
In effect, the lower the figure, the smaller is the difference between the poorest and richest inhabitant.
In Poland, the coefficient dropped from 35.6 in 2005 to 30.7 in 2013. The European average is 30.5.
“This is very encouraging, and many are even shocked that inequalities in Poland are not growing, but rather dropping,” Jakub Borowski, chief economist at Credit Agricole, told Puls Biznesu.
“Of course the disparity will not disappear. Income inequality and wealth will always be a trait of a capitalist economy,” the expert added.
Poland lags far behind other countries in the region. In the Czech republic, Slovakia and Scandinavian countries, the figure stands at around 24.
