What is the decile coefficient?

In the analysis of the effectiveness of public administration, the question of the standard of living of the population is important. The country's authorities exercise control over its useful resources, the contents of the subsoil and the gross product of people's activities. It is the state that organizes the distribution of material wealth among citizens. Why, in some countries rich in minerals, people Are dissatisfied with the level of their lives? And other states that do not have such resources do not know what the popular outrage is. How to find a criterion for comparing measures of distribution of material wealth?

What is the decile coefficient?

For these purposes, a number of tools are used in sociology. One of them is the decile coefficient of income differentiation . It is calculated by comparing the statistical data on the incomes of 10% of the representatives of the richest segment of the population and the income data of the same number of poor citizens. In science, it is believed that approaching the value of the coefficient to 10 creates conditions for social unrest in the country. The people will begin to express their indignation with the current authorities, and there may be riots.

Decile coefficient in European countries

The lowest value of this coefficient is in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. In these countries, the indicator ranges between 3-4. In France and Germany, it is at the level of 5-7. The insignificant dispersion in the incomes of the population of these states helps to maintain a favorable social climate. In Russia, the decile coefficient showed a continuous increase from the 1990s. The gap in the incomes of different strata of the population has reached an impressive size at the moment.

The wealthiest citizens receive 15-20 times more than poor categories. And this applies to the working part of society. In the calculation do not go to people who are in the category of the poor from the unwillingness to work. Consequently, a person who has worked all his life in Russia, also runs the risk of remaining poor. The work of a simple locksmith, for example, has no value compared to the profitability of an employee of Gazprom. The decile coefficient shows that conditions of social inequality and the nonequilibrium distribution of material wealth have been formed in our country.

Negative aspects of the large coefficient value

The onset of most unfavorable economic factors affects, first of all, the unsecured strata of the population. Inflationary and crisis processes are reflected in the growth of utility tariffs, prices for public transport services, as well as the cost of essential goods. Prices for luxury goods at the same time fluctuate in a smaller range. In addition, citizens with small incomes do not have a so-called financial "airbag". They do not have sufficient material savings to easily endure serious economic shocks. When in a state such categories of the population form a public majority, then conditions for social unrest are created. The decile coefficient shows this clearly.