Kuala lumpur: Malaysia has recorded a consistent decline in income distribution gaps based on various economic indices and indicators, said Deputy Economy Minister Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah. He said the latest statistics from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) Report 2024 showed that the country’s Gini coefficient improved to 0.390 points in 2024, compared to 0.404 points in 2022.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, this trend aligns with the narrowing of the income distribution gap, as highlighted by Mohd Shahar during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat. Mohd Shahar was responding to a query from Zahir Hassan (PH-Wangsa Maju) about the government’s plans to broaden the understanding of economic inequality beyond traditional metrics.

Commenting on the use of the Theil index as a quantitative tool, he noted significant changes in inequality across various income categories. The findings reveal that gross household income, as measured by the Theil index, decreased to 0.287 in 2024 from 0.303 in 2022.

Additionally, he mentioned the government’s use of the Atkinson index to address community sensitivity to income disparities, particularly for low-income groups. Further analyses include the percentile dispersion ratio, which compares income between the top 10 per cent (T10) and the bottom 10 per cent (B10), as well as the Palma ratio to examine the difference between the T10 and B40 groups.

These indicators enable the government to make informed decisions based on more precise data across ethnicity, state, and strata (urban and rural), Mohd Shahar added.