The ultra-rich could easily fill a football stadium. There are 56.000 of them, representing the richest 0,001% of the planet. The ticket to this exclusive club: assets worth at least 254 million euros. Together, they now own three times as much wealth as the poorest half of humanity, or 2,8 billion adults. Although the gap has stabilized after the Covid-19 pandemic, it has grown sharply in recent decades: in 1995, the 0,001% had “only” twice as much as the poorest half.
The data comes from a report by the World Inequality Lab (WIL), a research institute operating at the Paris School of Economics, which was published on Wednesday.
Following previous editions in 2018 and 2022, the new nearly 200-page report, co-authored by economists Thomas Piketty, Lucas Schancell, Ricardo Gomez-Carrera, and Rawaida Moshrif, provides a comprehensive overview of inequality around the world.
Drawing on research from nearly 200 scholars, the report documents the explosive growth of wealth among the ultra-rich and details how inequality permeates every segment of society: education, politics, the effects of climate change, and the income gap between men and women.
The report also recalls global trends over the past two centuries. First, there was a sharp rise in inequality during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. This was followed by a historic decline after World War I and especially after World War II, thanks to the development of welfare states and the introduction of high taxes on wealth and income, which enabled a historic reduction in wage and asset differences. Inequality has risen again in the last 40 years, particularly in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in Europe. Reasons include the liberalization of financial markets, the deregulation of labor markets, the weakening of unions and globalization.
While the findings are troubling, the researchers stress that they are not inevitable. Such trends, they argue, are the result of decisions by leaders and policymakers. “Inequality is not fate, but choice,” economists Jayati Ghosh and Joseph Stiglitz write in the report’s foreword.
"Over the course of a century, the income gap in Europe has been reduced tenfold. We must reconnect with this historic movement," Piketty said.
Globally, the richest countries are also those with the least inequality. In Europe, East Asia and the United States, wealth disparities are much less pronounced than in Africa, the Middle East or Latin America.
“Historically, wealth has come from much more inclusive investments in education and health,” Piketty said. “Reducing inequality is what has enabled development and prosperity.”
Extreme concentration of wealth among the ultra-rich
To understand contemporary trends in inequality, it is necessary to focus on the very top. Not the richest 10%, not the 1%, not even the 0,1%. For these very wealthy groups, changes in wealth between 1995 and 2025 roughly follow the trend for the rest of the world's population, with an average growth rate of about 3% per year.
However, two decimal places further down, the wealth of the richest 0,001% of the population has grown by almost 5% per year over the past 30 years. That's a group of 56.000 of the richest individuals in the world. And there are even higher spheres: at the very top, among the 560 richest - those with at least 4 billion euros in assets - wealth is growing by an average of 8,4% per year. This is where the multibillionaires who make headlines are: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and others.
In France, for example, these are Bernard Arnault, the Bettencourt family, the Hermès family and the Wertheimer family (owners of Chanel). To join the club of the 56 wealthiest people today, those who make up the 0,000001%, one needs 22 billion euros. At that level, a football stadium is no longer needed to gather; a restaurant with three Michelin stars is enough.
Of course, these fortunes are highly dependent on the stock market. If, for example, the AI bubble bursts, the picture could look different in a year. However, the long-term trend from 1995 to 2025 is clear: wealth is becoming extremely concentrated in the hands of a very small number of people.
The decline of the middle class
Behind this colossal wealth growth lies a slow but steady erosion of the middle class - those above the poorest 50% but below the richest 10%. It is this 40% that has seen income growth of just 1% per year since 1980. At the same time, thanks in large part to the rise of China, the poorest half of humanity has managed to narrow the gap somewhat, with growth of almost 2% per year, while the richest groups have seen growth of between 2% and 3%, depending on the category. It is this middle, and even upper middle, class that has seen the slowest income growth over the past four decades.
Politically, the trend is explosive. The erosion of the middle class and the increasing difficulty of financial survival are fueling the social discontent that has fueled populist movements for years - both in Europe and the United States.
Limited progress for women
Inequality is evident at every level of society, starting with the stark differences between men and women. “Women continue to work more and earn less than men,” concludes a report by the World Inequality Lab. When housework is included, women work 53 hours a week, compared to 43 hours for men. When all work is added up, including unpaid domestic duties, researchers find that women globally earn three times less per hour than men. Even when housework is excluded from the analysis, focusing solely on paid work, women earn only 61% of what men earn.
When all work is added up, including unpaid domestic duties, researchers find that women globally earn three times less per hour than men.
There are also large differences between regions of the world. While progress is visible in North America, Europe and Latin America, progress is virtually non-existent in the rest of the world. The gap is particularly pronounced in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, where women earn between 16% and 20% of total income - a level that has not changed since the 1990s.
“The economic consequences are far-reaching,” the report says. “Lower wages have cumulative effects over time, leading to lower savings, weaker pensions and less wealth accumulation (...) thereby transmitting inequalities across generations. So the gender pay gap is not just a question of pay equity – it reflects the way societies value different types of work and the way power is distributed in the labour market.”
Wealth finances pollution
The trend is well documented today: the richer you are, the more you spend and the more you pollute. In the United States, for example, the richest 10% produce 24% of greenhouse gas emissions. They emit 40 times more than the richest 10% in Nigeria.
Addressing today's enormous challenges, starting with the climate transition, requires confronting inequalities, Piketty points out: "We act as if social and climate issues at the global level can be separated. We need to connect these different levels of thinking if we want to find solutions."
He believes that the current period is comparable to the years after World War II, not because Europe needs to be rebuilt, but because the scale of today's challenges regarding climate, development, migration and other issues, as well as the size of public debts, are very similar.
Financing the complex climate transition is essential, even as most rich countries witness aging populations, deep debt, and a gradual decline in living standards.
“In rich countries, it is impossible to ask the poorest 50% to reduce their standard of living or their carbon footprint, or to make sacrifices to fund schools in developing countries, until those at the top make a serious contribution,” Piketty said. In short, he advocates significantly higher taxes on the richest, especially through wealth taxes.
Wealth tax
The report examines in detail the controversial tax proposed by Gabriel Zukman, one of the directors of WIL. Zukman's proposal envisages the introduction of an annual tax of 2% for the richest, with no exceptions. Such a measure, applied to assets exceeding $100 million (85,8 million euros), would generate about $500 billion in tax revenue annually globally, mainly in Asia and North America. Europe, with its smaller number of multimillionaires, would generate about €73 billion.
Is that unrealistic? Piketty cites historical precedents. In 1945, France introduced a “national solidarity tax,” which taxed the richest at a rate of 20%, albeit for only one year. At the time, Germany had a wealth tax rate of 50%, and Japan had a rate of 90%.
“These countries managed to completely eliminate their public debt within a few years and provide fiscal space for investment in post-war growth,” Piketty claims.
The reconstruction of war-torn cities and regions has also provided a powerful boost to economic growth. These 80-year-old examples convince Piketty that similar policies are possible today. “We must refuse to get used to extreme inequalities,” he concluded.
Prepared by: NB
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