World Inequality Report 2026
The World Inequality Lab recently published its 'World Inequality Report 2026', the third edition of a landmark global assessment of economic disparities. The World Inequality Report brings together contributions from over 200 researchers and provides the most up-to-date, multi-dimensional analysis of global inequality in income, wealth, gender, climate, taxation, and political power.
One of the report’s central findings is that global economic inequality remains both extreme and resilient, despite decades of economic growth. The top 10 per cent of the world’s population now earn more than the bottom 90 per cent combined. The bottom half earns less than 10 per cent of total global income. Wealth inequality is even more concentrated than income. The top 10 per cent own roughly 75 per cent of global wealth, whereas the bottom 50 per cent have only about 2 per cent.
At the very top, a tiny global elite, the top 0.001 per cent which equals about 60,000 individuals worldwide controls three times more wealth than the entire bottom 50 per cent of humanity combined. These figures highlight how wealth accumulation has far outpaced economic gains among the majority of the global population, even as living standards have risen on average. The report shows that while many people have seen rising incomes over the past four decades, the middle class in many regions has experienced stagnation, and the richest groups have captured the fastest gains. Within the global top 0.1 per cent, annual income growth consistently outpaced that of the bottom half of the distribution.
The 2026 report does not treat inequality as merely an economic issue, it highlights several overlapping and reinforcing forms of inequality.
Inequality Of Opportunity. Access to human capital, for example, education, remains deeply uneven. In Sub-Saharan Africa, average education spending per child is around €200, compared with €7,400 in Europe and €9,000 in North America & Oceania , a gap exceeding 40-to-1. This unequal access not only affects present outcomes but also fuels persistent disadvantages across generations.
Gender Inequality. Gender disparities are entrenched in both paid and unpaid work. Women often work more hours, especially when factoring in unpaid domestic and care work and yet earn considerably less than men. Excluding unpaid labour, women earn about 61 per cent of men’s hourly wages. When unpaId labour is included this drops to about 32 per cent. These inequalities restrict women’s economic opportunities, wealth accumulation, and political influence.
Climate Inequality. A notable innovation of the 2026 report is its explicit linking of wealth to environmental impact. The wealthiest 10 per cent of individuals are responsible for about 77 per cent of emissions associated with private capital ownership, whereas the bottom half contributes only about 3 per cent. This underscores how unequal wealth ownership amplifies climate change, with the poorest, who contribute least, bearing the brunt of climate risks.
Taxation, Redistribution & Political Dynamics. The report reveals that progressive taxation, which is a key tool to reduce inequality, is weakening at the very top. Effective tax rates often decline for centi-millionaires and billionaires, meaning the ultra-rich sometimes pay proportionally less tax than lower-income groups. This regressive pattern undermines governments’ capacity to fund public goods such as education, healthcare, and climate adaptation. On the political front, rising inequality is reshaping democracies by fragmenting traditional class coalitions and weakening support for redistributive policies.
Global Inequalities
The report highlights how the global financial system favors wealthy nations. Net income transfers, such as yields on investments and lower payments to poorer countries amount to about 1 per cent of global GDP annually, far exceeding traditional development aid. This systemic flow of resources from poorer to richer regions deepens international inequalities and constrains development. Even within regions, disparities remain vast. Wealth gaps such as the ratio of the top 10 per cent to the bottom 50 per cent are often many times greater than income gaps, highlighting how entrenched wealth concentration is in societies worldwide.
Roadmap for the Future
Despite the bleak data, the World Inequality Report 2026 emphasizes that inequality can be reduced with targeted policies. Progressive taxation and redistributive transfers have been shown to significantly reduce inequality where implemented effectively. Investments in education, healthcare, and labour protections, as well as robust social welfare systems, contribute to more equitable outcomes. The report underscores that policy choices and political will, not the market, shape the scale and persistence of inequality. The World Inequality Report 2026 offers both a warning and a roadmap, inequality is not an unavoidable fact of life, but a political and institutional outcome and as a result, can be addressed.