<p>I am not sure this is currently correct as <a href="http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/OECDIncomeDistributionDataReview-Korea.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/OECDIncomeDistributionDataReview-Korea.pdf</a> says: </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Income distribution and poverty indicators for Korea are also available from:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>The  same  combination  of  Household  Income  &amp;  Expenditure  survey  combined  with  Farm household economy survey from previous years, using different coverage of population</li>
  <li><ul>
  <li>Since 2006: all households (same series as OECD reference series)</li>
  </ul></li>
  <li><ul>
  <li>Since 2003: only for 2 and more non-farm household</li>
  </ul></li>
  <li><ul>
  <li>Since 1990: only for urban salary and wage worker, 2 and more household</li>
  </ul></li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

<p>which I intepret as saying that all households have been counted since 2006, while only households with 2+ people were counted from 1990 to 2005</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-07-21T18:48:06.280Z
2016-07-21T18:48:06.280Z
Henry
<p>I am not familiar with South Korean data; but I believe the Gini coefficient estimated by the US Current Population Survey does not exclude single households, meaning it's not a universal practice for Gini estimation.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-19T12:20:43.053Z
2016-11-19T12:20:43.053Z
tvbc
<p>OECD data for South Korea is based on the numbers provided by Statistics Korea, which does not count single household family income data in their statistics. I am just curious that neglecting single household is a general or traditional statistical method for getting sound Gini index so other countries use same way Or, it just happens in South Korea. Recently, The number of single households are growing fast, and usually their incomes are lower, so neglecting single household data leads lower Gini index, which means lower inequality. Do the other countries use the similar criterion for gathering data for Gini index? If the countries use different criterion , where could I find that?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-20T20:51:43.060Z
Where did you find the OECD data for South Korea [actual dataset, not the report/paper/table]? I would hint that the other countries are there as well.
user_newbie10
<macroeconomics><inequality>
When a country collects data for calculating the Gini index, do they usually neglect single household?
vsrjnc
# When a country collects data for calculating the Gini index, do they usually neglect single household?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-05-17)

OECD data for South Korea is based on the numbers provided by Statistics Korea, which does not count single household family income data in their statistics. I am just curious that neglecting single household is a general or traditional statistical method for getting sound Gini index so other countries use same way Or, it just happens in South Korea. Recently, The number of single households are growing fast, and usually their incomes are lower, so neglecting single household data leads lower Gini index, which means lower inequality. Do the other countries use the similar criterion for gathering data for Gini index? If the countries use different criterion , where could I find that?

**Tags:** macroeconomics, inequality

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Where did you find the OECD data for South Korea [actual dataset, not the report/paper/table]? I would hint that the other countries are there as well.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-07-21. Score: 1

I am not sure this is currently correct as <http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/OECDIncomeDistributionDataReview-Korea.pdf> says:

> Income distribution and poverty indicators for Korea are also available from:
>
> * The same combination of Household Income & Expenditure survey combined with Farm household economy survey from previous years, using different coverage of population
> * + Since 2006: all households (same series as OECD reference series)
> * + Since 2003: only for 2 and more non-farm household
> * + Since 1990: only for urban salary and wage worker, 2 and more household

which I intepret as saying that all households have been counted since 2006, while only households with 2+ people were counted from 1990 to 2005


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### Answer by username_3 on 2016-11-19. Score: 0

I am not familiar with South Korean data; but I believe the Gini coefficient estimated by the US Current Population Survey does not exclude single households, meaning it's not a universal practice for Gini estimation.


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