World’s richest 10% take over half of global income, says World Inequality Report

The world is far richer than it was two centuries ago, but the benefits of that growth remain overwhelmingly concentrated among a small global elite, according to the World Inequality Report 2026.

The report finds that the richest 10% of the world’s population now earn 53% of global income, while the poorest half, about 2.8 billion adults, receive just 8%. Wealth disparities are even more extreme: the top 10% own three-quarters of all global wealth, leaving the bottom 50% with only 2%.

The findings underscore how sustained economic growth since the 19th century has failed to translate into broad-based gains. Average global income has risen sixteen-fold since 1800, reaching nearly €14,000 per person in 2025. In theory, that level of income could provide every individual with about €1,200 per month. In practice, the report notes, income and wealth are distributed “highly unequally,” with a small minority capturing a disproportionate share.

Extreme concentration at the very top

The concentration becomes starker when the report examines the very top of the income ladder. The richest 1%, about 56 million adults, earn more than twice as much as the entire bottom half of humanity combined. At an even more extreme level, the top 0.1%, a group roughly the size of Singapore’s population, earn as much as the poorest 50% of the world’s adults.

On average, a person in the bottom half of the global income distribution earns about €5,100 a year, or roughly €425 per month. By contrast, an individual in the top 10% earns more than €159,000 annually, while those at the very top earn hundreds of millions each year.

Income growth patterns since 1980 reveal a polarized trend. While the poorest half of the global population has seen relatively faster percentage growth, the absolute gains remain small. The global middle 40% has experienced the weakest growth, while incomes at the very top, particularly among the top 0.1%, have expanded at the fastest pace.

Also read: Women work more but earn less as gender inequality remains structural, global report finds

Wealth inequality even sharper

Wealth inequality exceeds income inequality in both scale and intensity, the report shows. The richest 1% alone control 37% of global wealth, more than eighteen times what the bottom half of the world’s population owns combined.

At the extreme end, around 56,000 individuals, the top 0.001%, hold more wealth than 2.8 billion adults together. Average wealth for someone in the bottom 50% stands at about €6,500, compared with roughly €1 million for those in the top 10%. Among the ultra-rich, average wealth reaches into the billions.

Although wealth among the poorest half has grown modestly over the past three decades, the report finds that billionaires and centi-millionaires have seen their fortunes expand far faster, reinforcing long-term concentration.

Inequality persists across centuries

The report places today’s disparities in a long historical context, showing that extreme inequality is not new. Since 1820, the top 10% has consistently captured more than half of global income, while the bottom 50% has never received more than 15%.

While income shares for the global middle class improved during parts of the 20th century, particularly between the 1920s and the 1980s, those gains have since weakened. The share of income going to the poorest half of the world today remains lower than it was two centuries ago.

Regional divides remain stark

The report also highlights sharp inequalities across regions. North America and Oceania, along with Europe, remain far above the global average in both income and wealth, despite accounting for a small share of the world’s population. In contrast, South and Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, home to the largest populations, remain the poorest regions on average.

In 2025, average wealth in North America and Oceania is more than sixteen times that of Sub-Saharan Africa. Within regions, inequality is also pronounced: in many parts of the world, the top 10% earn or own dozens, and in some cases hundreds, of times more than the bottom 50%.

Also read: Jemimah Rodrigues joins women-focused helmet brand Tvarra as investor partner

Transparency gaps

The report also flags gaps in data transparency. Through its Inequality Transparency Index, it finds that many governments still fail to publish comprehensive and accessible data on income and wealth distribution, limiting informed public debate and policy design.

A structural challenge

Taken together, the findings paint a picture of an economic system where growth has been sustained but unevenly shared, with inequality proving persistent and, at the very top, self-reinforcing. The report concludes that understanding where inequality is most entrenched, across income groups, wealth brackets and regions, is a necessary first step toward addressing it.