Nagaland Chief Secretary, Sentiyanger Imchen, IAS on Thursday released the ‘Report on Income Disparity in Nagaland’ at Chief Secretary’s Conference Hall, Nagaland Civil Secretariat, Kohima in the presence of Akunu S Meyase, Secretary to the Government of Nagaland, Neidilhou Keditsu, Director, and other senior officers and officials of the Department of Economics and Statistics, Government of Nagaland.

The ‘Report on Income Disparity in Nagaland’ is the outcome of a project undertaken as part of the central sector scheme of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Support for Statistical Strengthening Sub-scheme, which was conducted in collaboration with the Hyderabad University, India.

The field survey of the present report was undertaken between October 2024 and December 2024. The reported data therefore pertains to the calendar year of 2024.

According to the report, altogether, the state-wide sample is composed of 4396 households. From urban areas, a total of 1315 households are surveyed from 60 wards, while a total of 3080 households are surveyed from 140 villages in rural areas.

The gini coefficient of Nagaland is 0.46, indicating a high-income inequality in the state. While the gini coefficient for rural Nagaland is 0.42, the coefficient for urban Nagaland is 0.44, suggesting that the urban income inequality is only marginally higher than that of rural income inequality.

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In terms of percentage share of income, the bottom 50 percent of the households receive about 18 percent of the total income of the state, whereas around 21 percent of the gross income is received by the top 5 percent of the households.

In relation to average monthly income, the top 5 percent receive a mean monthly income of Rs. 71028, while the bottom 50 percent receives an average mean income of only Rs. 1639.

Among the districts, Longleng is the district with the highest income inequality with gini coefficient of 0.492, whereas Phek is the district with the lowest income disparity with gini coefficient of 0.366.

In rural areas, Longleng is the district with the highest income inequality with gini coefficient of 0.456, while Zunheboto is the district with the lowest income disparity with gini coefficient of 0.330.

In urban areas, Longleng is the district with the highest income inequality with gini coefficient of 0.509, whereas Zunheboto is the district with the lowest income disparity with gini coefficient of 0.359.