The Lorenz Curve

Along the dashed 45-degree line every group receives exactly its share: the bottom 20 percent of households would get 20 percent of the income, the bottom 40 percent would get 40 percent, and so on. Any real distribution falls below that line, and the further below, the more unequal it is.

In 1980 the bottom fifth of households received 4.2 percent of income and the bottom four fifths received 55.9 percent. By 2020 those had fallen to 3.0 and 47.7 percent, so the 2020 curve lies below the 1980 one at every point: the distribution became more unequal. The slider reads either curve at a chosen quintile, and the side panel gives the gap between them.