Economic growth and social policies that include a national social protection
fl oor2 have resulted in signifi cant poverty reduction, from 49.7% of the population
in 1988 to 8.1% in 2009. However, income inequality as measured by the
Gini index (the degree of inequality in the distribution of household income
in a country) has not reduced from its level of 42.5 reached in 2004.