mily income is plotted against the number of families arranged from
the poorest to the richest. The index is the ratio of (a) the area
between a country's Lorenz curve and the 45 degree helping line to (b)
the entire triangular area under the 45 degree line. The more nearly
equal a country's income distribution, the closer its Lorenz curve to
the 45 degree line and the lower its Gini index, e.g., a Scandinavian
country with an index of 25. The more unequal a country's income
distribution, the farther its Lorenz curve from the 45 degree line and
the higher its Gini index, e.g., a Sub-Saharan country with an index of
50. If income were distributed with perfect equality, the Lorenz curve
would coincide with the 45 degree line and the index would be zero; if
income were distributed with perfect inequality, the Lorenz curve would
coincide with the horizontal axis and the right vertical axis and the
index would be 100.

Economic aid - donor: This entry refers to net official development
assistance (ODA) from Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) nations to developing countries and multilateral
organizations. ODA is defined as financial assistance that is
concessional in character, has the main objective to promote economic
development and welfare of the less developed countries (LDCs), and
contains a grant element of at least 25%. The entry does not cover
other official flows (OOF) or private flows. These figures are
calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power
parity (PPP) terms.

Economic aid - recipient: This entry, which is subject to major
problems of definition and statistical coverage, refers to the net
inflow of Official Development Finance (ODF) to recipient countries.
The figure includes assistance from the World Bank, the IMF, and other
international organizations and from individual nation donors. Formal
commitments of aid are included in the data. Omitted from the data are
grants by private organizations. Aid comes in various forms including
outright grants and loans. The entry thus is the difference between new
inflows and repayments. These figures are calculated on an exchange
rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

Economy: This category includes the entries dealing with the size,
development, and management of productive resources, i.e., land, labor,
and capital.

Economy - overview: This entry briefly describes the type of economy,