in the United States is somewhat narrower than that in India; however, the major difference is that the middle-income classes (the third and fourth quintiles) in the United States fare much better than those income classes in India, gaining a 42.4 percent share of total national income compared with a 36.9 percent share for these classes in India. The lower-income classes (the lowest and second quintiles) in both countries fare poorly. The Indians fare better than the Americans, however, with the lowest 40 percent of the Indian population within the context of income receiving 20.6 percent of the total national income, and with the lowest 40 percent of the American population within the context of income receiving only 15.7 percent of the total national income. By contrast, the high-income groups (the highest quintile) fare well in each country, with the top 20 percent of the Indian population within the context of income receiving 42.6 percent of the total national income, and with the top 20 percent of the American population within the context of income receiving 41.9 percent of the total national income.
Income distribution in India becomes even more skewed when a direct comparison is made between the lowest income groups and the highest income groups in the population. Income distribution within the context of the highest and lowest incomes classes in the country population is presented in Table 2, which may be found below on this page. Data for the United States are included in the table for comparative purposes.
Income Distribution By Highest and Lowest Income Classes in India and the United States
As the data presented in Table 2 indicate, the spread in income distribution between the lowest income class (the lowest 10 percent) and the highest income class (the highest 10 percent) is greater in India (24.7 percent) than in the United States (23.0 percent). The difference, however, is slight, which may surprise man...