Malawi vs United States: Palma ratio (before tax)

Malawi
5.36
in 2019
United States
5.47
in 2024
Malawi rank
36th
United States rank
34th

Palma ratio (before tax) over time

  • Malawi
  • United States
0510152025191319682024

How they compare

United States currently reports 5.47 against 5.36 in Malawi, a difference of 0.1084.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 29 shared years of data; in 1938 it was Malawi ahead.

Malawi ranks 36th and United States ranks 34th of 113 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Palma ratio (before tax)
Source
World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
113 places, 3,075 data points, 1820–2024
Last refreshed

The Palma ratio is a measure of inequality that divides the share received by the richest 10% by the share of the poorest 40%. Higher values indicate higher inequality. Inequality is measured here in terms of income before taxes and benefits.