| New Zealand | Australia | |
| Has the dispersion of earnings been increasing in recent decades? | Yes, the top decile has risen from 143 per cent of median in 1986 to 186 per cent in 2012. | Yes, top decile of earnings has increased from 175 per cent of median in 1975 to 215 per cent in 2012. |
| Has overall inequality increased in recent years? | No, the Gini coefficient has been relatively stable around 32 percent since 1996. However, it rose by 7 percentage points between 1988 and 1996. | Yes, Gini coefficient has increased by 5 percentage points since 1981. |
| Have there been periods when overall inequality fell for a sustained period? | Yes, from mid-1950s to mid-1970s. | Yes, overall inequality and top shares fell from early 1950s to end of the 1970s. |
| Has poverty been falling or rising in recent decades? | Poverty has substantially increased from 1996 to 2004 before decreasing mildly till 2009. | Risen since 1981. |
| Has there been a U-pattern for top income shares over time? | Yes, top gross income shares fell from mid-1950s to mid-1980s, then rose from mid-1980s to mid-1990s. | Yes, top gross income shares fell from 1921 to around 1980 and then began to rise, reaching pre-war levels before the 2007 crisis. |
| Has the distribution of wealth followed the same pattern as income? | Insufficient evidence. | Yes, the share in total wealth of the wealthiest 1% of the population dropped more than threefold from 1915 to the end of 1970s before rising again till the onset of 2007 crisis. However, the rise was not sufficient to return to pre-war levels of concentration. |
| Additional noteworthy features | U-shape over post-war period. Top income shares estimates for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 are affected by changes in the income tax laws. Top shares series have a break in 1951 (change in tax units). | Rising inequality on all (observable) dimensions for past thirty years. |
Australia has become more unequal over the past 30 years as compared to New Zealand, but it is also become 30% richer than New Zealand.
Looks like John Rawls was right for the average Australian as compared to the average New Zealander. Australia is a more unequal society but a far richer society because of it, which is a fair deal if Rawls is to be believing.
Figure 1: New Zealand inequality chart book
Figure 2: Australian inequality chart book
You are welcome to share but please refer to A. B. Atkinson and S. Morelli (2014) – ‘The Chartbook of Economic Inequality’ at http://www.ChartbookOfEconomicInequality.com
This visualisation is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license, Data visualisation by: Max Roser
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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