Dataset · World Bank Group

Palma Ratio

22 editions, 2002–2023 · 60 countries · 2 measures

The Palma ratio divides the share of income held by a country’s richest 10% by the share held by its poorest 40%. A ratio of 1 means the top tenth hold as much as the bottom four-tenths put together; the most unequal countries run past 7. It is an inequality measure built on the observation that the middle half of most countries holds a fairly steady share, so the fight is at the ends.

This site holds every edition from 2002 to 2023, read from World Bank Group’s own data and stored exactly as published.

Open Palma Ratio, 2023 compilation Download all 22 · CSV See it charted by country →

Palma Ratio · the file

Newest: Palma Ratio, 2023 compilation
Held: 22 editions · 1,737 rows
Licence: CC BY 4.0

22editions held
2002–2023editions, by release
—readings from many years
60countries in the newest169 across every edition
2measures per country
CC BY 4.0licence

0122 editions

Every edition

Newest first. Each opens the full table for that edition, and each downloads as a CSV.

2002bar height: countries covered, up to 942023

Every edition of Palma Ratio held on this site, newest first, with its download files.
Edition	Countries	Change	Read	Download
Palma Ratio, 2023 compilationNewest	60	+9 −22	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2022 compilation	73	+17 −26	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2021 compilation	82	+23 −12	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2020 compilation	71	+9 −17	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2019 compilation	79	+12 −27	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2018 compilation	94	+27 −12	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2017 compilation	79	+11 −16	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2016 compilation	84	+19 −22	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2015 compilation	87	+22 −19	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2014 compilation	84	+19 −13	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2013 compilation	78	+12 −21	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2012 compilation	87	+22 −17	September 26, 2026	CSV

Show all 22 editions

Edition	Countries	Change	Read	Download
Palma Ratio, 2011 compilation	82	+18 −23	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2010 compilation	87	+25 −21	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2009 compilation	83	+21 −17	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2008 compilation	79	+21 −15	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2007 compilation	73	+14 −23	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2006 compilation	82	+23 −22	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2005 compilation	81	+22 −16	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2004 compilation	75	+22 −16	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2003 compilation	69	+26 −25	September 26, 2026	CSV
Palma Ratio, 2002 compilation	68	—	September 26, 2026	CSV

Every edition in one file, one row per country per edition: palma-ratio-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv

026 columns

What’s in the file

Every column, what it holds, how it is stored and what its values look like — what a reader needs before opening the file.

Every column in the newest file of Palma Ratio: what it holds, how it is stored, and its range.
Column	What it holds	Stored as	Range, 2023	Distinct
Country`country`Name	The country’s name, as this file spells it.	Text	—	60
ISO Code`country_code`Identifier	The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code, added by this site. Every table here joins on it.	Text · 3 letters	—	60
Palma ratio (richest 10% share ÷ poorest 40% share)`palma_ratio`Headline	The headline figure: Palma ratio (income share of the richest 10% ÷ share of the poorest 40%).	Number · up to 4 decimals	0.772Slovakia4.193Colombiamiddle 1.332	60
90/10 ratio (90th ÷ 10th percentile of income or consumption)`p90p10_ratio`Measure	Income or consumption at the 90th percentile divided by that at the 10th: how far the top pulls away from the bottom.	Number · up to 4 decimals	2.811India15.567Hondurasmiddle 5.486	60
Survey measures`welfare_type`Grouping	World Bank Group’s own grouping of the country.	Text	—	2
Survey year`survey_year`Reading year	The year this country’s reading describes. Readings from different years sit side by side.	Year	—	6

Profiled from the newest file. Range: the lowest and highest value, with the country holding it when only one does. Spread: countries in ten equal steps from lowest to highest. A higher value is the worse result.

03169 countries across every edition

Who is covered

How many countries each edition holds, continent by continent, who joined and who left, and which places this site covers that the dataset never has.

All regions

Countries in each edition of Palma Ratio, by continent.
	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Africa	9	5	9	13	7	7	15	6	5	15	7	2
Americas	17	16	18	16	17	16	19	15	14	15	16	15
Asia	20	16	17	17	20	17	21	16	15	17	20	14
Europe	39	38	39	40	39	39	38	38	36	34	30	28
Oceania	2	3	1	1	1	0	1	4	1	1	0	1
All	87	78	84	87	84	79	94	79	71	82	73	60

The newest 12 of 22 editions.

Who joined and who left

2023 compilation
+ Guatemala+ Honduras+ Iraq+ Kiribati+ Panama+ Philippines+ Palestine+ Rwanda+ Uganda− Bangladesh− Bhutan− Canada− Chile− China− Germany− Equatorial Guinea− Israel− Kenya− Lebanon− Mexico− Mongolia− Mozambique− Nigeria− Nepal− Suriname− Syria− Chad− Vietnam− Kosovo− South Africa− Zambia
2022 compilation
+ Bangladesh+ Bhutan+ Chile+ Equatorial Guinea+ India+ Lebanon+ Mexico+ Mongolia+ Mozambique+ Nigeria+ Nepal+ Suriname+ Syria+ Chad+ Vietnam+ South Africa+ Zambia− Benin− Burkina Faso− Bosnia and Herzegovina− Central African Republic− Côte d’Ivoire− Cameroon− Egypt− Ethiopia− United Kingdom− Guinea-Bissau− Jamaica− Kazakhstan− South Korea− Madagascar− Mali− Montenegro− Malaysia− Niger− Netherlands− Panama− Philippines− Senegal− Togo− Tonga− Tunisia− Taiwan
2021 compilation
+ Benin+ Burkina Faso+ Bosnia and Herzegovina+ Central African Republic+ Côte d’Ivoire+ Cameroon+ Egypt+ Ethiopia+ Guinea-Bissau+ Jamaica+ Madagascar+ Mali+ Malaysia+ Niger+ Panama+ Philippines+ Senegal+ El Salvador+ Togo+ Tajikistan+ Tonga+ Tunisia+ Uzbekistan− Albania− Australia− Burundi− Belarus− Chile− DR Congo− Comoros− Gambia− Japan− Mexico− Ukraine− Vietnam
2020 compilation
+ Australia+ Burundi+ Chile+ DR Congo+ Comoros+ Gambia+ Kenya+ Mexico+ Vietnam− Egypt− Fiji− Honduras− Iceland− Kiribati− Sri Lanka− Maldives− Marshall Islands− North Macedonia− Mozambique− Mauritania− Malawi− Panama− El Salvador− Uganda− Vanuatu− Zimbabwe
2019 compilation
+ Egypt+ Fiji+ Kiribati+ Sri Lanka+ Maldives+ Marshall Islands+ Mozambique+ Mauritania+ Malawi+ Uganda+ Vanuatu+ Zimbabwe− Angola− United Arab Emirates− Australia− Benin− Burkina Faso− Belize− Côte d’Ivoire− Guinea− Guinea-Bissau− Grenada− Jamaica− Laos− Mexico− Mali− Mongolia− Malaysia− Niger− Nigeria− Pakistan− Philippines− Senegal− Sierra Leone− Seychelles− Chad− Togo− Tanzania− Vietnam
2018 compilation
+ Angola+ United Arab Emirates+ Australia+ Benin+ Burkina Faso+ Belize+ Côte d’Ivoire+ Guinea+ Guinea-Bissau+ Grenada+ Jamaica+ Laos+ Mexico+ Mali+ Mongolia+ Malaysia+ Niger+ Nigeria+ Pakistan+ Philippines+ Senegal+ Sierra Leone+ Seychelles+ Chad+ Togo+ Tanzania+ Vietnam− Bhutan− Chile− Djibouti− Egypt− Gabon− Hungary− Lesotho− Myanmar− Mauritius− Qatar− São Tomé and Príncipe− Zimbabwe
2017 compilation
+ Bhutan+ Chile+ Djibouti+ Egypt+ Gabon+ Lesotho+ Myanmar+ Mauritius+ Qatar+ São Tomé and Príncipe+ Zimbabwe− Australia− Bangladesh− Barbados− Ghana− Liberia− Sri Lanka− Maldives− Mexico− Mongolia− Malawi− Palestine− Rwanda− South Sudan− Eswatini− Uganda− Vietnam
2016 compilation
+ Argentina+ Australia+ Bangladesh+ Barbados+ Ghana+ South Korea+ Liberia+ Sri Lanka+ Maldives+ Mexico+ Mongolia+ Malawi+ Palestine+ Rwanda+ South Sudan+ Eswatini+ Taiwan+ Uganda+ Vietnam− Benin− Bosnia and Herzegovina− Botswana− Chile− Côte d’Ivoire− Cabo Verde− Egypt− Ethiopia− Gambia− Kenya− Saint Lucia− Myanmar− Malaysia− Namibia− Nigeria− Pakistan− Philippines− Togo− Tajikistan− Tonga− Tunisia− Zambia

Not in this dataset · 55 places this site covers

World Bank Group gives no figure for these in any edition held here. It is the publisher’s choice of scope, and each place’s profile shows what is measured.

04Provenance

Where it comes from

The path from the publisher to this page, and what was checked and changed on the way.

The site’s method

1 · Publisher
World Bank Group
pip.worldbank.org
2 · Their file
Palma Ratio 2023
pip
3 · Read by this site
September 26, 2026
Imported by a script that parses each figure and writes it down unrounded.
4 · Stored as
22 files, one per edition
Each downloads as a CSV, or every edition together as palma-ratio-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv
5 · Used on
Its statistic page, and every profile it measures
/statistics/palma-ratio

Precision

The headline is stored to 4 decimals, as published.

Rounded by this site

Never. Tables on screen may show fewer decimals; the files never do.

Changed by this site

Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

PIP’s own published ratio, read one year at a time from the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform, which serves it only on request as an additional indicator. PIP’s 90/10 ratio is stored beside it. Years outside 2002–2023 fall below 60 countries and are not imported.

05Reuse

Licence and credit

What the publisher’s licence lets you do, what it asks of you, and a credit line and citation ready to copy.

Every publisher’s terms

Licence · checked September 26, 2026

CC BY 4.0

Share and redistribute it
Adapt it and build on it
Use it commercially
Credit the publisher
Say what you changed

Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.

A credit line

Source: World Bank Group, Palma Ratio, via Nations Inquiry.

Cite this dataset

World Bank Group. Palma Ratio, 2002–2023 [data set]. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/palma-ratio

The publisher’s own citation: World Bank. Poverty and Inequality Platform. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.

Plain-language summary, not legal advice. The licence text is what binds.

06Where it is used

Around the site

Where these numbers appear on this site, and the datasets nearest to it.

Charted
Palma Ratio by country
Who is highest, the map, the spread, who rose and fell, and the records.
Subjects
- Poverty & Inequality
- Economy & Innovation
Near neighbours
- Gini IndexWorld Bank Group · 22 held · 2002–2023
- Poverty Gap at $3.00 a DayWorld Bank Group · 22 held · 2002–2023
- Income Share Held by Lowest 20%World Bank Group · 22 held · 2002–2023

07Questions

Palma Ratio: questions and answers

What is the Palma Ratio?

Which editions of the Palma Ratio can I download?

All 22, from 2002 to 2023, each as a CSV file, or every edition together in one CSV.

Does World Bank Group rank countries on it?

No. World Bank Group publishes values only. The positions shown on this site are derived by ordering the published values, and are labelled as ours.

Can I use it commercially?

Yes, under CC BY 4.0, with credit to World Bank Group. The licence text is linked on this page.

Edition

Countries

Change

Read

Download

Palma Ratio, 2023 compilationNewest

+9 −22

September 26, 2026