India’s top one per cent richest families became wealthier by 62 per cent between 2000 to 2023, as per a report by renowned economists, which also drew attention to the bottom half of the world’s humanity receiving just 1 per cent in the said period.
The study, led by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, was commissioned by the South African Presidency of the G20, and includes economists Jayati Ghosh, Winnie Byanyima, and Imraan Valodia.
The G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality warns that global inequality has now reached its peak “emergency” levels, threatening to destroy democracy, economic stability, and climate progress.
In fact, countries with high inequality are seven times more likely to experience democratic decline than more equal countries, the report said.
“In India, the top 1 per cent have grown their share of wealth by 62 per cent over this period (2000-2023); this figure is 54 per cent in China,” the report stated.
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Globally, between 2000 and 2023, the richest 1 per cent increased their share of the wealth in over half of all countries, which contain 74 per cent of the world’s rich.
Between 2000 and 2024, the top 1 per cent globally captured 41 per cent of all new wealth created, while the bottom half of the population received just 1 per cent.
On the other hand, reduction in global poverty has almost come to nil, and in fact, reversed in some regions, with 2.3 billion people still facing moderate or severe food insecurity.
“Since 2020, global poverty reduction has slowed almost to a halt and reversed in some regions. 2.3 billion people face moderate or severe food insecurity, up by 335 million since 2019.26 and half the world’s population is still not covered by essential health services, with 1.3 billion people impoverished by out-of-pocket health spending,” the report said.
Inter-country inequality, however, seems to have reduced because of the rise in per capita incomes in some very populous countries like China and India, which brought down the share of high-income countries in global GDP somewhat.
But, unequal wealth is a choice and can be reversed by political will, the economists highlighted.
“Extreme inequality is a choice. It is not inevitable and can be reversed with political will. This can be greatly facilitated by global coordination, and in this regard, the G20 has a critical role,” the report said.
It proposes the creation of an International Panel on Inequality (IPI), modelled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to monitor global trends and guide policymaking.
The body, to be launched under the South African G20 Presidency, would provide governments with “authoritative and accessible” data on inequality and its drivers.
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