In every region the per capita income of the richest 20% is naturally much higher than that of the poorest 20% - but by differing degrees. In the developing world it is 8 times as high, in industrialized countries 7 times as high. And in South Asia it is 5 times as high, in Latin America and the Carribean 9 times as high. The biggest range: the per capita income of the richest 20% in industrial countries ($32,189 in PPP$) is 11 times that in South Asia ($2,833 in PPP$).
Regional figures may conceal large variations among countries. In Eastern Europe and the CIS countries the per capita income of the highest quintile is 7 times that of the lowest quintile - in Russia 14 times. In industrial countries the per capita income of the highest quintile is 7 times that of the lowest - in Japan only 4 times. Although no figure was available for Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, income disparity is significant in some countries of the region. In Lesotho the per capita income of the richest 20% is 22 times that of the poorest 20%. For South Africa the figure is 19 times, and for Kenya 18 times.
At a global level between 1989 and 1996 the number of billionaires increased from 157 to 447. Today the net wealth of the ten richest billionaires is $133 billion, more than 1.5 times the total national income of all the least developed countries. The wealth of the single richest Mexican in 1995 was $6.6 billion, equal to the combined income of the 17 million poorest Mexicans. These, of course, are comparisons of wealth and income. But a comparison of wealth alone, if possible would be even starker, since the wealth of the poorest people is generally much less than their income.
Income disparity is often linked with disparity in access to social services and productive resources and in the pattern of public expenditure. In urban Kenya the net primary enrolment ratio in the 1980s was 45% for the poorest 10% and 72% for the richest 10%. In rural Bangladesh in 1992 large landowners constituted only 7% of rural households but received 37% of the institutional credit. In Nigeria only 12% of public health spending in 1992 went to the poorest 20%, 33% went to the richest 20%.
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