Bernie Sanders 2020: Is US inequality the highest？

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Claim:Inequality is higher in the US than any other major country.

Verdict:It's high but not the highest.

Bernie Sanders launched his presidential campaign by attacking the greed of corporate America and its billionaires. Greed, he said, has resulted in this country having more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on Earth."

Is the left-wing senator right about inequality？

The US is certainly the richest country in the world and is creating more new millionaires than anyone else.

And ending “runaway” income inequality is also a key message of another prominent politician on the American left - congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Where are the millionaires？

(Figures in thousands)

Source: Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2018

There are different ways of measuring inequality.

One of the most common methods is the Gini coefficient.

It gives countries a score between zero and 100. A score of zero means everyone earns the same amount. A higher score indicates a higher level of income inequality.

To address Mr Sanders's claim about “major” countries, we'll look first at the biggest developed economies - the G7 countries - plus Russia and China.

How does inequality in the US compare？

(Most recent Gini coefficient scores)

Source: World Bank

Out of these nations, the US's Gini score ranks it the second most unequal behind China, according to the World Bank.

This is based on the most recent available data, which varies between countries.

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Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been vocal about wanting to put higher taxes on America's top earner

The bank gets its information from household surveys collected by government statistical agencies and its own country departments.

To look at a larger group of countries, out of the 35 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the US's Gini score ranks fourth behind Mexico, Chile and Turkey respectively.

Where the 1% have the largest wealth share