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What you should know about this indicator

  • The Palma ratio is a measure of inequality that compares the income share of the richest 10% to that of the poorest 40%. For example, a value of 2 means the richest 10% receive twice as much as the poorest 40%. We discuss the data and other measures in more detail on our page on economic inequality.
  • The data comes from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), which is based on national survey data. LIS takes the original data and harmonizes it by mapping the data onto a common set of definitions. This makes the data more comparable across countries than other sources, but at the cost of covering fewer countries. .
  • Income is measured after taxes have been paid and government benefits — such as public pensions, unemployment benefits, and social assistance — have been received.
  • The income data has been — that is, adjusted for household size. This makes living standards more comparable across households of different sizes, since people sharing a household can split costs like rent and heating. To make the adjustment, LIS uses the square root equivalence scale: it divides the total household income by the square root of the number of people in the household.
Income inequality: Palma ratio (after tax)
Luxembourg Income Study
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 after taxes and benefits.
Source
Luxembourg Income Study (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
June 12, 2026
Next expected update
September 2026
Date range
1963–2024

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Luxembourg Income Study – Luxembourg Income Study (LIS)

The Luxembourg Income Study Database (LIS) is the largest available income database of harmonized microdata collected from over 50 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia spanning five decades.

Harmonized into a common framework, LIS datasets contain household- and person-level data on labor income, capital income, pensions, public social benefits (excl. pensions) and private transfers, as well as taxes and contributions, demography, employment, and expenditures.

Retrieved on
June 12, 2026
Retrieved from
https://www.lisdatacenter.org/our-data/lis-database/
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database, http://www.lisdatacenter.org (multiple countries; June 2026). Luxembourg: LIS.

The Luxembourg Income Study Database (LIS) is the largest available income database of harmonized microdata collected from over 50 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia spanning five decades.

Harmonized into a common framework, LIS datasets contain household- and person-level data on labor income, capital income, pensions, public social benefits (excl. pensions) and private transfers, as well as taxes and contributions, demography, employment, and expenditures.

Retrieved on
June 12, 2026
Retrieved from
https://www.lisdatacenter.org/our-data/lis-database/
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database, http://www.lisdatacenter.org (multiple countries; June 2026). Luxembourg: LIS.

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Income inequality: Palma ratio (after tax)”, part of the following publication: Joe Hasell, Bertha Rohenkohl, Pablo Arriagada, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, and Max Roser (2022) - “Poverty”. Data adapted from Luxembourg Income Study. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260724-091504/grapher/palma-ratio-after-tax-lis.html [online resource] (archived on July 24, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Luxembourg Income Study (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

Luxembourg Income Study (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Income inequality: Palma ratio (after tax) – Luxembourg Income Study” [dataset]. Luxembourg Income Study, “Luxembourg Income Study (LIS)” [original data]. Retrieved July 24, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260724-091504/grapher/palma-ratio-after-tax-lis.html (archived on July 24, 2026).

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