NEW DELHI, Dec 14:
A new research has found that income inequality had increased across the world, including in India, in the last few decades, though at different speeds.
Since 1980, economic disparities have deepened rapidly in North America, China, India, and Russia, while growing moderately in Europe.
In 2014, the share of national income captured by India’s top 1 per cent of earners was 22 per cent, while the share of the top 10 per cent of earners was around 56 per cent.
The top 0.1 per cent of earners has continued to capture more growth than all those in the bottom 50 per cent combined.
This rising inequality contrasts to the 30 years following the country’s Independence in 1947, when income inequality was widely reduced and the incomes of the bottom 50 per cent grew at a faster rate than the national average.
Across the globe too, since 1980 the richest 1 per cent captured twice as much as the poorest 50 per cent of the world’s population.
In other terms, since 1980, 27 per cent of all new income generated worldwide were captured by the richest 1per cent, while the poorest 50 per cent of the world’s population captured only 13 per cent of total growth.
These figures are brought into sharp contrast considering the top 1 per cent currently represents 75 million individuals while the bottom 50 per cent represents 3.7 billion individuals.
The population in between, largely comprised of lower- and middle-income earners in North America and Europe, experienced sluggish or even zero income growth rates.
The report has been compiled by The World Wealth and Income Database (WID.world), an open access multilingual website that has contributions from scholars from across the globe. (UNI)
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