The Australian Inequality Index is a ground-breaking new tool that provides a multi-dimensional measure of inequality across a range of economic, social, and demographic indicators. By tracking changes in inequality over time, we hope to enable a richer, more nuanced understanding of the root causes of inequality and develop targeted solutions to address them.

The over-reliance of economists and policy-makers on traditional measures of progress, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Gross National Income (GNI), is understandable: it has been the dominant measure of economic progress for the better part of a century. Yet there is a shift afoot, with many policy thinkers and leaders now acknowledging its limitations as a tool to measure genuine social progress. 

This shift can be seen in the rise of movements advocating the implementation of wellbeing budgets as a core part of government policy processes. That the Australian government has recently embraced the wellbeing framework underscores the utility and timeliness of Per Capita's Index.

The Index provides seven conceptually sound, easy to follow sub-indices, and a composite index that brings these seven dimensions together. The sub-indices provide a useful set of insights into progress achieved within each of the chosen dimensions: income, wealth, gender, generation, ethnicity, disability and First Nations.

Collectively, they provide a better measure of social and economic progress than GDP or GNI: they offer insight into whether benefits are equitably shared between different demographic cohorts, and whether our society is becoming more or less equal.