A report bouncing around the blogs today shows that the United States has the 42nd most severe income inequality in the world — which, until you remember that there are some 180 recognized nations in the count, perhaps doesn’t seem so bad. But when it sinks in a bit, it’s really pretty staggering. Income inequality here, in the richest nation in the world, is greater than 80% of the countries around the globe.

So it’s interesting to note that Egypt, Tunisia, and even Yemen have greater income equality than the United States — and those nations say that inequality was one of the primary reasons they rose up. Here’s the breakdown, via Washington’s:

Egyptian, Tunisian and Yemeni protesters all say that inequality is one of the main reasons they’re protesting. However, the U.S. actually has much greater inequality than in any of those countries. Specifically, the “Gini Coefficient” – the figure economists use to measure inequality – is higher in the U.S. Gini Coefficients are like golf – the lower the score, the better (i.e. the more equality).

According to the CIA World Fact Book, the U.S. is ranked as the 42nd most unequal country in the world, with a Gini Coefficient of 45.

Gini coefficient — greener countries are more equal. Red is the most unequal.

By way of comparison,

• Tunisia is ranked the 62nd most unequal country, with a Gini Coefficient of 40.
• Yemen is ranked 76th most unequal, with a Gini Coefficient of 37.7.
• And Egypt is ranked as the 90th most unequal country, with a Gini Coefficient of around 34.4.

And so the question becomes, why isn’t the US rioting, too? There are a number of obvious reasons — the quality of life is on average higher here, our elected leaders enter and exit office (generally) according to the rules, and so on. But there are some not-so obvious reasons, too. For one, most Americans don’t realize how severe our income inequality has become — one study found that “Americans thought the richest 20 percent of our society controlled about 59 percent of the wealth, while the real number is closer to 84 percent.” Furthermore, that same study found that most Americans supported a Sweden-style wealth redistribution system — so as long as they didn’t recognize it as such by name.

At the moment, Americans continue to be largely oblivious to this widening income gulf, and some remain convinced that it’s not a big deal at all. But, as the foreclosure crisis continues (a million more people will lose their homes this year), as high unemployment rates remain stagnant, and the very rich continue to make more money than ever before, that gulf will become more and more apparent, and tensions are likely to emerge. Remember, middle-class income hasn’t risen for decades, but the rich’s income has by leaps and bounds. Surely, we’re a long ways off from the kind of discontent that’s rampant in North Africa and the Middle East — but Egypt’s example should, if anything, give us reason to rally to address this inequality before it alienates even greater swaths of our society.

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Image: Pubrecord

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