The differences in income
and wealth distribution of a country can be seen nicely through ratio of
classes in the society. Today we are taking the middle class into consideration
as the best parameter showing these inequalities.
But, first, there is a
problem of defining middle class which is not always easy and experts on the
field also have some disagreements and different opinions:
According to CNN Money, the middle class is characterized by their place in five categories: income, wealth, consumption, aspiration, and demographics. By the income middle class represents the population whose income is in between that 20% of the poorest and 20% of the richest people. Since wealth does not have to be proportional to the income (having in mind savings for example), some characterize middle class being 3/5 of the country’s wealth. Consumption is one of the categories that might show better the position of an individual than income by the amount of spending. Then we have the aspiration, rather a non-directly measurable category, but showing the personal tendencies and possibilities through showing off the socio-economic status. And finally, there is a demographic category takes into account education, age, race together with income as wealth indicators.
Even
though there is not a single definition of the middle class, it is more or less
a thing that can be measured and compared globally. In short – countries with
big middle class are usually those wit least differences in income and wealth
distribution. In today’s world a middle class boom is seen in Asia and
developing countries (but even though it encompasses millions of people it
still represents a small proportion of these countries) while a slight
shrinkage is seen in most Western European countries. To see more on this issue
you might check out the article published by Insider Monkey concerning the Top
15 Countries with the Largest Middle Class Population in the World.
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