Data collected from across Europe shows Iceland to have lower income inequality than other European nations.
According to Statistics Iceland, Iceland has the lowest percentage of people under the “low income line”, which is defined as 60% of the median income for any given country. 7.9% of Icelanders fall into this income level, compared to the European average of 17.1%, and is the lowest percentage in Europe.
Wage inequality is also amongst the lowest in Europe when using a standard of measurement known as the GINI Index. This index ranges from 0 – everyone in a country has the same income – to 100, where the entire revenue for the country is held by one individual. Iceland ranks a 24 on this scale, below the European average of 30.5. Iceland was, however, only the third most egalitarian regarding income: Slovenia (23.7) and Norway (22.6) ranked more equal still.
When income levels are compared between the highest fifth and the lowest fifth of any given European country, the top 20% in Iceland make 3.4 times as much as the bottom 20%, compared to a disparity of 5.1 times in the European average. However, again Slovenia (3.4) and Norway (3.2) ranked more equal.
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