According to the UNDP 1997 Human Development Report, and the 2004 United Nations Human Development (UNHDP) report, Malaysia has the highest income disparity between the rich and poor in Southeast Asia, greater than that of Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. The UNHDP Report shows that the richest 10% in Malaysia control 38.4% of the economic income as compared to the poorest 10% who control only 1.7%. Kuala Lumpur as the capital of Malaysia has an increasing number of squatters, shanty towns and slums, and is also seeing an increase in criminal acts such as snatch theft, robberies, and rape.
Famous quotes containing the words income and/or disparity:
“I know everybody’s income and what everybody earns,
And I carefully compare it with the income-tax returns;”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“I find it a great and fatal difference whether I court the Muse, or the Muse courts me. That is the ugly disparity between age and youth.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)