Reference:

• The World Inequality Lab has released the “World Inequality Report 2026”, highlighting persistent and extreme economic inequalities across the world.

Key Points:

• Publisher: World Inequality Lab
• Editors: The report is edited by leading economists including Thomas Piketty, Lucas Chancel, Ricardo Gomez-Carrera, and Raweda Moshrif.
• Edition: This is the third edition of the report series, following the 2018 and 2022 reports.
• Basis: The report is based on a large global dataset compiled by over 200 researchers.
• Assessment Dimensions: The report assesses not only income and wealth inequality but also highlights other critical dimensions such as gender inequality and climate inequality.

Key Global Findings

Global Wealth Inequality:

• Extreme Concentration: The richest 0.001% of the world (about 60,000 ultra-wealthy individuals) own three times more wealth than the bottom half of humanity.
• Top 10% vs Bottom 50%: The top 10% of the global population owns around 75% of total wealth, while the bottom 50% owns only 2%.
• Control by the Top 1%: The top 1% alone controls 37% of global wealth, which is 18 times more than the total wealth of the bottom half.

Global Income Inequality:

• Globally, the top 10% income earners earn significantly more than the remaining 90%, while the poorest half of the world receives less than 10% of global income.

Gender Inequality:

• Share of Labor Income: Since the 1990s, the share of women in global labor income has remained around 25%, with little improvement.
• Wage Gap (Unpaid Work Excluded): Excluding unpaid work (such as domestic and care work), women earn on average only 61% of men’s income per working hour.
• Wage Gap (Unpaid Work Included): Including unpaid labor, women’s total earnings fall to only 32% of men’s earnings.

Climate Inequality:

• Emission Contribution: The poorest 50% of the global population contribute only 3% of carbon emissions associated with private wealth (investments and assets).
• Top 10% Responsibility: The richest 10% are responsible for approximately 77% of private wealth-related emissions.
• Ultra-wealthy Contribution: The top 1% alone emit 41% of private wealth-based emissions, nearly twice the combined emissions of the bottom 90%.

Key Findings for India

Income Inequality:

• The top 10% of the population holds about 58% of the total national income.
• The bottom 50% receives only 15% of national income.

Wealth Inequality:

• • The richest 10% own around 65% of the country’s total wealth.
• • The top 1% alone holds approximately 40% of the wealth.

Gender Inequality:

• India’s female labor force participation rate is only 15.7%, among the lowest in the world.

Policy Recommendations

• Progressive Taxation: Implement strong progressive taxation systems, including a global minimum tax on billionaires and ultra-wealthy individuals.
• Increase Public Investment: Invest heavily in high-quality free public services such as education, healthcare, childcare, and nutrition.
• Redistribution Programs: Expand strong social security and redistribution programs for vulnerable groups, including cash transfers, pensions, and unemployment benefits.
• International Financial Reform: Reform the global financial system to prevent net financial flows from developing to wealthy countries, which the report notes are roughly three times higher than official development aid.