Twitch's Gini Coefficient

Dec 21, 2021

How do we measure inequality? A few months ago, the entire repository of Twitch code and data was leaked as a result of a hack. Someone on Twitter used the data to graph payouts by percentile. It turns out that the top 0.1% of creators on Twitch make 1% of all Twitch income.

Source

The Gini coefficient is one measure of inequality. It's a measure of how much the income distribution vs. population distribution differs from true equality (the straight line in the above graph). Using the regions A and B in the above graph, it's simply A/(A+B).

In the scenario that everyone makes the same amount, the Gini coefficient should be 0. In the other scenario, where one person makes all the income and everyone else makes 0, the Gini coefficient should be 1.

The Gini coefficient for Twitch creators is 0.808. To put this into context, the Gini coefficient calculated for major world countries.

Source: Wikipedia

It's also interesting to see it on a state-by-state basis

Source: Wikipedia

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