Topic Videos
The Lorenz Curve
- Level:
- AS, A-Level, IB
- Board:
- AQA, Edexcel, OCR, IB, Eduqas, WJEC
Last updated 21 Mar 2021
The Lorenz curve is the graphical / visual representation of income or wealth distribution developed by American economist Max Lorenz in 1905.
It is drawn as a cumulative income curve. A population is divided into quintiles: The richest quintile is the 20% of households with the highest disposable income. Similarly, the poorest quintile is the 20% of households with the lowest disposable income.
The Lorenz Curve can then be contrasted with the line of perfect equality to show the scale of income and wealth inequality in a country.
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