disparity

IELTS use

Useful for discussing inequality in wealth, education, healthcare, or opportunities in Task 2 essays and reading comprehension.

Examples

1. There is a growing disparity in income between urban and rural populations.
2. Educational disparities often lead to unequal job prospects later in life.
3. The report highlighted a significant disparity in access to clean water across regions.

Collocations

growing disparity

The growing disparity between rich and poor is a major social concern.

regional disparity

Regional disparities in healthcare funding need to be addressed.

disparity in access

There is a clear disparity in access to higher education between different social groups.

reduce the disparity

Policies aimed at reducing the disparity in income have had mixed results.

Word family

Noun

disparity

Paraphrases

• inequality: Stronger emotional charge; often used in social justice contexts.
• gap: More informal; common in spoken and written contexts (e.g. 'the gender pay gap').
• imbalance: Implies a lack of fairness or proportion; often used in resource distribution.

Common mistakes

• There is a big disparity between the two groups. to There is a significant disparity between the two groups.. Use 'significant' or 'marked' instead of 'big' in academic writing.
• Disparity of income is a problem. to Income disparity is a problem.. Use the noun as a modifier: 'income disparity', not 'disparity of income'.
• The disparity between schools are alarming. to The disparity between schools is alarming.. 'Disparity' is singular, so the verb must be 'is'.