Author(s)

Mohammed Taj Uddin, Md. Nazrul Islam, Ahmad Kabir, Dilip Chandra Nath

Department of Statistics, Gauhati University, Guwahati, India.
Department of Statistics, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh.

Although the Gini coefficient is an ideal measure of income inequality, it may be applied to measure the aging inequality in a society. In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop alternative measures of aging inequality based on the Gini index. The study uses the secondary population data of Asian countries collected from the international data base, US census Bureau. From the analysis it is observed that the Gini coefficient shows equally sensitivity at all levels. The coefficient is more concern for the country which are closed to the line of absolute equality. For example, the sensitivity level in the Gini coefficient is observed much higher in Israel than in Qatar. The logarithmic transformation of Gini coefficient does not work well because it violates the transfer principle. The Geometric measure of Gini coefficient fails to measure inequality because of violating the transfer principle. On the other hand, the logarithmic transformation of geometric equivalent of the Gini coefficient works better because it shows more sensitivity than the Gini coefficient and satisfies the transfer principle. From the analysis it is also found that the trigonometric measure of Gini coefficient works better than the logarithmic transformation of geometric equivalent of the Gini coefficient because it satisfies transfer principle as well as shows higher sensitivity. Therefore, the trigonometric measure of the Gini coefficient is the best measure of aging inequality among the measures considered in the study.

Inequality; Aging; Gini Index; Geometric Measure

Taj Uddin, M. , Islam, M. , Kabir, A. and Nath, D. (2012) A new index for measuring aging inequality: An application to Asian countries. Health, 4, 685-694. doi: 10.4236/health.2012.429108.