Publication: A Perceived Divide: How Indonesians Perceive Inequality and What They Want Done About It
Date
2015-11-01
ISSN
Published
2015-11-01
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
Inequality in Indonesia is rising and a
recent survey suggests that Indonesians are growing
increasingly concerned. The Gini coefficient in Indonesia
has increased sharply over the past 15 years, increasing
from 30 in 2000 to 41 in 2013. In a 2014 survey on public
perceptions of inequality, most Indonesians consider income
distribution in Indonesia to be very unequal or not equal at
all. In addition, half of all respondents feel that
Indonesia has become more unequal or much more unequal over
the past five years. The true extent of high inequality,
however, is worse than most people realize. Respondents
believe that the ideal income distribution is one where the
top 20 percent of the population earn as much as the bottom
40 percent. Not with standing this ideal, respondents
estimate that the actual income distribution has the top 20
percent earning as much as the bottom 60 percent. However,
the 2014 National Socio-economic Survey (Susenas 2014)
suggests that the richest 20 percent actually earn as much
as the rest of the population combined. Furthermore, because
household surveys typically do not capture the incomes of
the richest Indonesians, the real level of inequality in
Indonesia is probably even higher.
Citation
“World Bank. 2015. A Perceived Divide: How Indonesians Perceive Inequality and What They Want Done About It. © World Bank, Jakarta. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23602 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”