World Bank Document

centile groups of households ranked by total nationwide estimates of income distribution.
household income. The distributions cove:r rural Thus, although the estimates shown are considand
urban areas and refer to different years ered the best available, they do not avoid all these
between 1967 and 1982.
problems and should be interpreted with extreme
The data for income distribution are drawn from caution.
a variety of sources including Economic and Social The scope of the indicator is similarly limited.
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Because households varv in size, a distribution in
Economic Commission for Latin America and the which households are ranked according to per cap-
Caribbean (ECLAC), International Labour Organi- ita household income, rather than according to
sation (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co- total household income is superior for many puroperation
and Development (OECD), the 'World poses. The distinction is important because house-
Bank, national sources, the UN Survey of National holds with low per capita incomes frequently are
Sources of Income Distribution Statistics, 1981, and large households, whose total income may be relamore
recent UN data.
tively high. And conversely, many households
Because the collection of data on income distri- with low household incomes may be small housebution
has not been systematically organized and holds with relatively high per capita incomes.
integrated with the official statistical system in Information on the distribution of per capita
many countries, estimates were typically derived household income exists, however, for only a few
from surveys designed for other purposes, most countries. The World Bank's Living Standards
often consumer expenditure surveys, which also Measurement Study is developing procedures and
collect some information on income. These sur- applications that can assist countries to improve
veys use a variety of income concepts and sample their collection and analysis of data on income disdesigns.
Furthermore, the coverage of many of tribution.
these surveys is too limited to provide reliable
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