September 2016, Indonesia's Inequality Declined Marginally

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) released the Gini ratio figure for September 2016 at 0.394, a very slight decrease of 0.003 points from the March 2016 value of 0.397. This figure is also lower than the September 2015 Gini ratio of 0.402. Although nationally decreasing, inequality in urban areas remains higher than in rural areas. The urban Gini ratio was recorded at 0.409, while in rural areas it was 0.316.

BPS Head Suhariyanto explained that the slight decrease in the Gini ratio is due to several factors. Among them, the expenditure of the lower and middle groups was higher than that of the upper group. However, the expenditure of the lower-middle group increased significantly. BPS recorded that the lowest economic group's expenditure grew by 4.56 percent, while the middle group grew by 11.69 percent, and the highest economic group only grew by 3.83 percent.