Singapore’s Gini Coefficient Over Last 10 Years

Parliamentary Question by Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis:

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance over the last ten years, what is Singapore’s Gini coefficient (i) before and (ii) after taxes and transfer, based on household income from all sources including work and non-work income, such as investments and property.

Parliamentary Reply by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Lawrence Wong:

The Department of Statistics publishes Singapore’s Gini coefficients based on household income from work before and after taxes and transfers annually.

It is more challenging to include non-work income as such data are more prone to under-reporting and measurement errors. This is why the Department of Statistics has thus far not included such data in its computation of the Gini coefficient.

The Government will continue to explore ways to better measure household incomes. Regardless of the measurement issues, our approach remains to keep our social support measures progressive and targeted at the lower and middle-income households.