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Table 1 Characteristics of selected summary measures of within-country regional inequality

From: Monitoring subnational regional inequalities in health: measurement approaches and challenges

 

Summary measure

Category of measure (subgroups included)

Unweighted or weighted

Reference group

Absolute measures of inequality

High to low absolute difference

Pairwise (extreme subgroups)

Unweighted

Best region

Population attributable risk

Impact (all groups)

Weighted

Best region

Weighted variance

Variance (all groups)

Weighted

Overall mean

Absolute weighted mean difference from overall mean

Variance (all groups)

Weighted

Overall mean

Relative measures of inequality

High to low relative difference

Pairwise (extreme groups)

Unweighted

Best region

High to low ratio

Pairwise (extreme groups)

Unweighted

Best region

Index of dissimilarity

Disproportionality (all groups)

Weighted

Overall mean

Theil index

Disproportionality (all groups)

Weighted

Overall mean

Population attributable risk percentage

Impact (all groups)

Weighted

Best region

Coefficient of variation

Variance (all groups)

Weighted

Overall mean

Relative weighted mean difference from overall mean

Variance (all groups)

Weighted

Overall mean