Today humanity produces more goods and services than ever before in history, enough to feed and sustain the entire world.
Yet millions still live and die in poverty.
If such abundance coexists with such deprivation, the problem isn't production, but the way its benefits are distributed. Global inequality remains deeply entrenched, reflecting a world economy that is profoundly hierarchical.
As frustration and anger grow in many societies seen in the rise of extremist and authoritarian movements in the political west, one might ask could this be fueled by the rise of inequality?
Now, inequality between whom? Who is rich and who is poor, and how big is the gap between the two? In this project, we take a deep look at global inequality from different perspectives. Inequality here refers to economic inequality, meaning differences in income distribution.
The Inequality Spectrum
Let’s start with one simple number, the Gini coefficient. It tells us how income is shared within a country or across the world.
A Gini of 1 means one person earns everything 
and a Gini of 0 means everyone earns the same.
This single number will guide us through more than four decades, starting in the 80s until 2023.
One flat line 🤔
Looking at the global average, the Gini line sits high and stays almost perfectly flat across the four decades. At first glance that looks like unequal then and unequal now.
But has the world really not changed at all in four decades? Has distribution stayed the same? Can a line so flat truly capture what is happening underneath?
Average can be misleading 🤯
Comparing the global average line to all countries (backgorund lines), we can clearly identify variance.
There is also another trend visible in this chart, the variance between countries has narrowed since 1980. Nevertheless a smaller gap today remains enormous and a single average, condensed into one number, misses much of this pattern.
Now let's look at specific countries and regions and how they've changed in context.
Europe most equal continent 🥳
Europe is the most economically equal continent. Nevertheless Inequality rose slightly from the early 90s into the mid 2000s. This was largely due to labour market liberalization and the growing role of capital income.
Even with these changes the region continued to compress disparities more effectively than most other parts of the world because of its welfare systems and progressive taxes1.
Overall, Europe shows a stable pattern with small movements but no major breaks. This reflects long standing redistributive institutions that continue to keep inequality in check2.
Even among equals
Within Europe, inequality levels differ. Northern countries maintain especially low and stable Gini values supported by cohesive labour markets and strong social protections3.
Parts of Southern and Eastern Europe show gradual increases in inequality starting in the 90s, because of weaker labour institutions and more volatile capital income4.
Despite these differences, all European countries remain far below the global inequality level.
United States of rising inequality
In the early 80s the United States 🇺🇸 stood close to Europe in terms of inequality. From that point onward inequality increased steadily. This was driven by financialization, technological change that favored skilled workers, declining labour share5 and of course deregulation, which contributed to the financial crises.
Source: Capital in the 21st Century (2019) by Justin Pemberton
Today the US stands among the most unequal advanced economies.
South America's uneven paths
Across South America inequality remained high throughout the 80s and 90s. Many countries saw a decline during the 2000s due to stronger labour markets, improved education and expanded social programs6. From the mid 2010s onward progress slowed as growth weakened and labour markets became more fragile7.
Inequality rose sharply during the COVID 19 pandemic especially for informal and urban workers. Although fiscal support softened the impact it remained above pre pandemic levels in several countries8.
The unequal neighbour 🇲🇽
Mexico is one of the most unequal countries and a direct neighbour to the US.
During and after the COVID 19 pandemic inequality kept falling, while in the US the opposite was the case, bringing the two geographical neighbors closer together in terms of iniquality levels.
The peak of inequality
South Africa 🇿🇦 is one of the most unequal countries in the world. It was already extreme in the 80s and increased further after the end of apartheid9.
High unemployment, strong divides between skilled and unskilled work and large spatial and educational inequalities keep distribution highly polarized10.
Social grants reduce poverty but cannot compensate for the deep structural inequality generated in the labour market.11.
The outlier of equality 🇯🇵
Japan remains one of the lowest inequality countries. It increased gradually during the 90s until the burst of the financial crises.
Stable labour institutions, broad middle income employment and progressive taxation helped hold inequality at a comparatively low level12.
Demographic change and the rise of non regular work added modest upward pressure but Japan still shows one of the most stable long term inequality trajectories in the world13.
The rise of China 🇨🇳
China is neither one of the most equal nor unequal countries, but what stands out is its enormous economic growth in recent decades and its impact on other countries. The graph shows that the rise in productivity goes hand in hand with a rise in inequality.
Source: Capital in the 21st Century (2019) by Justin Pemberton
The flat line revisited
Seen up close, the flat global line is no longer a mystery. Opposite forces balanced each other out.
countries drew closer together while internal gaps widened. The world’s line looks flat, but beneath it, everything moves.
As the charts presented so far illustrate, economic inequality is strongly influenced by geographical context, which in turn is shaped by local politics and economic regulations, or the lack thereof.
The Gini coefficient can obscure important details. For instance, two countries with the same value might differ significantly in whether inequality is driven by concetration at the top or at the bottom.
To gain a more nuanced understanding, the following charts compare the share of national income held by the richest 10% vs. the poorest 50% in order to observe how these two income groups have evolved relative to each other.
Gap between rich and poor
The upper line represents the income share of the global richest 10%, the lower of the poorest 50%.
Despite growth in emerging economies over recent decades, the global bottom half’s share remains historically low: underscoring how much of the world’s income continues to concentrate at the top.
Smallest gap in Europe
In Europe the gap between the richest 10% and the poorest 50% was exceptionally small in the 80s. From the early 90s onward the distance between the two began to widen, driven mainly by a decline in the income share of the lower half.
A brief reversal appears around the financial crisis when top incomes fell slightly and the lower half recovered modestly. After this short period of adjustment the lines began to settle again.
Since then both lines have stabilized, yet the overall gap remains wider than it once was.
Sweden 🇸🇪 had a reverse ratio
While inequalities have risen in Europe since the 80s, Sweden remains one of the most equal countries in the world.
During the COVID-19 pandemic inequality briefly increased as low-income employment declined, but strong welfare support and recovery measures quickly reversed this effect, returning income shares to pre-pandemic levels.
USA 🇺🇸 with historical highs
The gap in the US is huge, the top 10% earn on average 17 times more than the bottom 50%.
Since the early 80s deregulation, privatization, lower tax progressivity, and declining union coverage have contributed to a steady rise in the top 10% income share. During the COVID-19 pandemic the income of the richest 10% continued to rise, while the recovery for lower-income groups lagged.
Unlike in Sweden where inequality fell after the initial shock, the post-pandemic increase in top incomes in the USA persisted, reinforcing the long-term trend of widening inequality.
Mexico 🇲🇽 with postive recent trend
Yet during COVID-19, Mexico broke from the global pattern: the income share of the richest 10% fell noticeably, one of the few clear declines among major economies.
As the World Inequality Lab notes, Mexico is an exceptional case where the top’s losses outpaced those at the bottom.
The gap remains large, but this turn marks a rare departure from the region’s norm.
South Africa 🇿🇦 biggest gap
As seen before South Africa stands as the most unequal country in the world. Inequality was already extreme in the 80s and from the early 90s onward it rose even further, reaching its highest levels around 2010.
The end of apartheid brought profound political change, but only limited economic redistribution. This reflects the deep structural legacy of apartheid, including persistent racial divides, stark spatial separation, limited land reform and concentrated ownership.
Social spending has softened some edges, but the underlying distribution has remained largely unchanged, leaving inequality at record levels today.
Japan 🇯🇵 remains rather stable
Around the 1991 asset bubble, the top 10% share briefly declined as stock and land values collapsed.At the same time, the bottom 50% saw a brief rise in their share, reflecting the temporary compression of incomes during the downturn.
Since then, both income groups have moved within a narrow range, showing Japan's long-term stability and relatively low inequality despite economic stagnation.
China 🇨🇳 with growing gap
The gap between these two income groups grew immensly in China over these 4 four decades.
Source: Capital in the 21st Century (2019) by Justin Pemberton
Where are we heading?
A rather negative continution of this development might look like...
Source: Capital in the 21st Century (2019) by Justin Pemberton
Looking at all these charts and noticing a clear tendency toward extreme inequality in many parts of the world can leave someone feeling hopeless and worried about our future. We often hear expressions like ‘history repeats itself.’
But as Thomas Piketty pointed out in the documentary, sometimes looking back at history is exactly what can give us hope for the future.
Source: Capital in the 21st Century (2019) by Justin PembertonThanks.