Papua's Inequality Decreased in the Last Two Years

In March 2018, Papua was still recorded as the province with the highest poverty rate in Indonesia. Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed that the province's poverty rate reached 27.74% of the total population. However, the Gini ratio (inequality index) decreased by 0.013 points to 0.384 on a scale of 0-1. Papua's inequality figure was slightly below the national inequality figure, which reached 0.389. Meanwhile, the highest inequality was in Yogyakarta with a Gini ratio of 0.441.

Despite the abundance of natural resources in Papua, there are stories from former employees of PT Freeport Indonesia revealing that many local Papuan people still live below the poverty line. According to BPS data, Mimika Regency and Jayapura City are the two regencies/cities with the best economies. This is due to the higher levels of education, health infrastructure, and welfare in these two areas compared to other regions. The average life expectancy in Jayapura City is estimated to be 69 years.

The Gini ratio or Gini coefficient is an indicator used to measure the degree of inequality in the distribution of household expenditure and reflects the economic disparity between the rich and the poor. The Gini ratio in Papua has decreased over the past two years, as shown in the graph below.