Statistics on Income Inequality

Income Inequality, Malaysia, 2024

Latest Release : 8 October 2025
28 July 2023
Income Inequality Malaysia 2022 Show all release archives
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Overview
  • Income and expenditure data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey are used to generate indicators of inequality and poverty.
  • Most countries use the Gini coefficient as a standard measure of income distribution and inequality among households.
  • The Gini coefficient measures income inequality based on the Lorenz Curve, with values ranging from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality).
  • The Gini coefficient declined from 0.404 in 2022 to 0.390 in 2024, indicating that the income inequality gap narrowed by 1.4 percentage points over the period.

 

Income Inequality by Ethnic and Strata

  • All ethnic groups recorded a smaller income gap, with the Chinese group recorded the highest inequality (Gini: 0.412).
  • In 2024, the income gap ratio between Chinese and Bumiputera remained at 1:0.72, showing a slight improvement from 1:0.71 in 2022. Meanwhile, the gap between Chinese and Indians improved to 1:0.86 in 2024 as compared to 1:0.84 in 2022.
  • Meanwhile, income inequality in urban areas decreased to 0.378 in 2024 from 0.393 in 2022, while rural areas also recorded a decline to 0.344 from 0.351 over the same period.

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