Inequality

 

Introduction & Overview

introduction
introduction & overview of the issue

overviews & key resources
overview factsheets, key websites & resources


In-depth Resource Guide

articles & literature
articles, documents, factsheets, reports & publications

organizations & websites
organizations, programs, and other informational websites
introduction  The richest 1% of the world have income equivalent to the poorest 57%. Four fifths of the world's population live below what countries in North America and Europe consider the poverty line. The poorest 10% of Americans are still better off than two-thirds of the world population. The assets of the 200 richest people in 1998 were more than the total annual income of 41% of the world’s people. Three families – Bill Gates, the Sultan of Brunei and the Walton family – have a combined wealth of some $135 billion. Their value equal the annual income of 600 million people living in the world’s poorest countries. The richest 20% of the world population now receives 150 times the income of the poorest 20%. The share of the poorest 20% of the world's people in global income now stands at a miserable 1.1%, down from 1.4% in 1991 and 2.3% in 1960. It continues to shrink. And the ratio of the income of the top 20% to that of the poorest 20% rose from 30 to 1 in 1960, to 61 to 1 in 1991 - and to a startling new high of 78 to 1 in 1994.