On 23 October 2026, the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) released its annual figures on income inequality across EU member states for 2025. According to the report, the average Gini coefficient in the European Union stood at 29.2 in 2025, slightly down from 29.4 in 2024.
EU Member States with the Highest and Lowest Income Disparities
Across EU member states, the highest income disparities in 2025 were recorded in three countries:
- Bulgaria — Gini coefficient of 37.7;
- Latvia — 35.6;
- Lithuania — 35.5.
Conversely, household income in 2025 was distributed most evenly in five EU countries where the Gini coefficient remained below 25 points:
| EU Member State | Gini coefficient in 2025 |
|---|---|
| Slovakia | 23.0 |
| Belgium | 23.4 |
| Czechia | 24.0 |
| Slovenia | 24.6 |
| Poland | 24.9 |
How Eurostat Calculates the Indicator
The Gini coefficient measures the extent to which the distribution of income within a country deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. It is expressed on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents complete equality (everyone receives the same income) and 100 represents maximum inequality (one individual receives all the income in the country).
For European statistics, income is measured as equivalised disposable income, which adjusts total household income after taxes and social transfers to account for differences in household size and composition. Separate findings on the structure of household assets and savings in Germany were covered earlier in our article on the Bundesbank report on household wealth in Germany.
Information Sources
- Official statistical release by Eurostat (Income inequality across EU slightly down in 2025), published on 23 October 2026.