World Inequality Report 2022

The World Inequality Report 2022 was launched by World Inequality Lab, a social research laboratory focusing on the study of inequality in the world.

Stuck in the 20^th Century

Global inequalities today are as much as they were at the peak of Western imperialism in the 20th century.
The share of income presently captured by the poorest half of the world’s population is about half of what it was in 1820, before the great divergence between Western countries and their colonies.

Inequalities in Global Wealth

Poorest half of the global population “barely owns any wealth” possessing just 2 per cent of the total, whereas the richest 10 per cent of the global population own 76 per cent of all wealth.

Gender Inequality

Women’s share of total incomes from work (labor income) is less than 35% today. It was 30% in 1990. In past 30 years, progress has been very slow at the global level.

Ecological Inequality

a.Income and wealth inequalities are connected to ecological inequalities. The top 10% of emitters are responsible for close to 50% of all emissions, while the bottom 50% produce 12% of the total.

India stands out as a “poor and very unequal country with affluent elite”.

Why India as a ‘very unequal country'

Income Inequality
- The top 10 per cent holds 57 per cent of total national income.
- The top 1 per cent holds 22 per cent of total national income.
- The bottom 50 per cent share has gone down to 13 per cent of national income.
Wealth inequality
- The bottom 50% own almost nothing, having an average wealth of 6% of the total, the middle class is also relatively poor with an average wealth of only 29.5% of the total.
- Top 10% own respectively 65% of the total wealth, and Top 1% own 33% of the wealth.

It says that given the large volume of wealth concentration, modest progressive taxes can generate significant revenues for governments that can be reinvested in education, health and the ecological transition.