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Old 03-07-2008, 03:18 AM   #18 (permalink)
gamercube
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Actually, India's Gini coefficient is lower than the US' hence, there is less income inequality in India. It's true as you say that the difference between a Lakshmi Mittal and a poor farmer who has to sell his kidneys to survive is huge, but how many such Lakshmi Mittals are there in India? India has a total of 53 billionaires in the list out of a total population of 1.1 billion. That's peanuts when compared to the 469 billionaires in America in it's 300 million population.

Thus, for 400 of the poorest Americans (probably homeless people), there are 469 billionaires, but for 400 of India's poorest (again, probably homeless people), there are only 53 billionaires. Hence, I think income inequality is higher in the States. Of course, as you take a larger sample, the obviousness of it may not be easily apparent-for example if you take the poorest 1 million people in both countries, then 900,000 of those in the US maybe better off than their Indian counterparts, but then again, the 900,000 richest Americans will also be significantly richer than their Indian counterparts.
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