Madrid and several of the large municipalities in its outskirts top the rankings of income inequality among their inhabitants, far from other major urban concentrations such as Barcelona and its surroundings, which place several of their cities among those with the greatest income equality.
These findings are part of a study published this Monday by Fedea with data from 2023, which also includes information on income and inequality from about 1,200 municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants and another 145 with more than 50,000 inhabitants. There is also an analysis of the ten largest cities.
Another conclusion is that two cities in the province of Barcelona, Sant Cugat del Vallès and Vilanova i la Geltrú, were the ones that increased their income the most in 2023, by 6.2% and 5.8%, respectively. Only the Canary Island town of San Bartolomé de Tirajana surpasses them, with an 8% increase.
When analyzing the inequality of the ten largest cities in Spain, the Fedea report does not show a correlation with size, despite Madrid occupying the first position. The capital presents a Gini index of 0.543, followed by three not-so-large cities: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (0.54), Murcia (0.538), and Málaga (0.538). Barcelona ranks seventh, ahead of Seville, Palma de Mallorca, and Zaragoza, with a Gini index in the latter case of 0.4696.
The Gini index used by Fedea is the most commonly used indicator to measure inequality. A value of zero means a similar distribution of income among all individuals, and one means maximum inequality, where a single person would receive all the income. As a reference, a variation of two hundredths corresponds to a distribution of 7% of the income from the poorest sector to the richest.
The Fedea report shows that, among the ten municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants with the highest inequality in Spain, two from Madrid top the list, Pozuelo de Alarcón and Alcobendas. In contrast, among those with the lowest inequality are, in this order, Sant Boi de Llobregat (0.3717), Cornellà de Llobregat (0.3930), Cerdanyola del Vallès (0.3959), Aranjuez (0.4027), and Granollers (0.4029).
Read more What makes the AfD, the ultras who have won in Saxony, different and dangerous?
The largest increases in the Gini index were recorded in the Madrid municipalities of Tres Cantos, at 51.17%, and Colmenar Viejo, at 42.01%, followed by the Barcelona municipality of Vilanova i la Geltrú, at 27.58%, and the Málaga municipality of Rincón de la Victoria, at 23.26%. The report records these changes without delving into the causes.
Among the major conclusions of the Fedea study, carried out by Miriam Hortas-Rico and Jorge Onrubia, is an increase in average income in large municipalities slightly lower than in previous years and also the first increase in inequality since the pandemic. “The statistics show very intense and opposite movements in many municipalities,” the authors say.
The increase in inequality is the first since the pandemic
In municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants, the average income per taxpayer increased by 1.2% in 2023, while municipal inequality rose by 2.2%, although it remains below the 2019 level.
In the analyzed year, the average personal income was 25,308 euros per taxpayer and 13,569 euros per inhabitant. The average of the municipal Gini indices rose from 0.5058 to 0.5167, representing an increase in inequality of 2.16%. Among municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, the Gini index increased in 90 and decreased in 55.
Read more Le Pen’s party distances itself from the AfD’s victory in Germany
