Estimating the Income Distribution of Some Muslim Countries Based on Entropy Measures

Abstract

Having biased and unjustified income distribution in a country can have many unpleasant consequences such as, poor health, frustration and dissatisfaction, increase in social problems and criminal activities, unreliable education systems, etc. Therefore, determining the income distribution of a country is of great importance and benefit for social safety and economic growth. Using real data for the year 2016 for three Muslim countries, Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt, this paper utilizes the so-called entropy measures in the problem of estimating the income probability distribution, using the least available information or incomplete information such as the average and range of income. The paper also provides rough estimates of the Coefficient of Variation (CV) and Gini Index for each country.