Findings of the report:

• Income: 83% of countries have high income inequality (i.e., a Gini coefficient above 0.4), accounting for 90% of the world’s population.
• Wealth: Between 2000 and 2024, the richest 1% captured 41% of all new wealth, in contrast to just 1% being captured by the bottom 50%.
  • In India, the top 1% has grown their share of wealth by 62% over this period.

Drivers of Inequality

• Neoliberal Policies: Deregulation of financial and labor markets, the weakening of competition policies, and a shift toward less progressive taxation.
• Growth of monopoly power: Increases corporate owners' incomes and decreases workers' real incomes.
• International Setting: Greater mobility of capital across borders and new technologies used in production have lowered bargaining power of less-skilled workers.
• Influence of economically powerful elites: on politics and policymaking both drives and reinforces economic inequality
• Historical legacy of high inequality in developing countries. E.g. Distribution of land.

Recommendations

• Establishing an International Panel on Inequality (IPI) to provide policy-relevant assessments on inequality trends, drivers and impact.
• Implementing more progressive taxation through a global minimum tax on ultra-rich individuals.
• Rewriting IP rules to include compulsory licenses/waivers for critical technologies, especially related to climate change and pandemics. 
• Ensuring universal access to high-quality essential services such as health, education, and social security.