An Analysis of Income Inequality in Central Asian Countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

2019 - September

The article presents an analysis on income inequality in Central Asian economies, and incomes in these economies were compared. Income inequality was an inevitable consequence of the transition to a market economy and the collapse of socialist countries. Internationally comparable data on household budget surveys was used.

This article analyzes the statistical indicators of monetary income of the population in Central Asian countries, particularly Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Due to geographical proximity, similarity of socio-political and socio-economic backgrounds of the countries in the region, the cross-country analysis approach was chosen.

In this work, monetary income means the amount of money received and accumulated by the population. The main sources of monetary income of the population include remuneration, income
from entrepreneurial activities, social payments (pensions, benefits, scholarships), income from private subsidiary plots of households, income from the financial system (payments of winnings, interest on deposits in banks, insurance rewards).