Income inequality

The Gini coefficient is used to measure inequality of income. It is based on the standardised disposable household income. The Gini coefficient is a number between 0 and 1 where 0 corresponds to total equality (everyone has the same income) and 1 corresponds to total inequality (one person has all the income).
Provisional figures from the Income Panel Survey, for example those referring to 2011, usually show a higher level of income inequality than definitive figures. With respect to the Gini coefficients presented over the period 2001-2011, this is taken into account.
Eurostat uses the Gini coefficient to measure the degree of income inequality between the countries of the European Union. The Gini coefficient for the Netherlands published by Eurostat varies marginally from the one calculated by Statistics Netherlands, because the Netherlands and Eurostat use different sources and definitions.

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