## Picture This — Inequality

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Picture This — Inequality](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/picture-this-inequality.pdf)

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- [Markdown version](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/picture-this-inequality.pdf.md)
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### Overview
- GLOBAL INEQUALITIES ARE in bad shape and mostly do not appear to be getting better.
- Disparities today are about the same as they were in the early 20th century, and the pandemic continues to make things worse.
- The recently released World Inequality Report 2022 sheds light on this problem with two traditional measures (wealth and income) and two new ones (ecological and gender inequality).

### Wealth inequality
- The poorest half of the global population owns just €2,900 (in purchasing power parity) per adult.
- The top 10 percent owns roughly 190 times as much as the poorest half.
- Charted wealth thresholds (Wealth (€000)) shown in the source:
  - €700,000
  - €119,000
  - €53,000
  - €30,000
  - €19,000
  - €12,000
  - €7,000
  - €4,000
  - €1,700
  - €330
  - €500,000
  - €2.7 million
- Distribution highlights from the chart:
  - 50% owns just 2% of total wealth
  - 10% of the population owns 76% of total wealth
  - 1% of the population owns 38% of total wealth
  - The top 1%... (chart continuation indicates extreme concentration)

### Income inequality
- Income disparities are severe:
  - The richest 10 percent today take in 52 percent of all income.
  - The poorest half get just 8.5 percent.

### Ecological inequality (Carbon)
- The report measures ecological inequality through carbon dioxide emissions by income category.
- Some 10 percent of the world’s population accounts for 48 percent of global carbon emissions.
- The same 10 percent:
  - owns 76 percent of the wealth
  - takes in 52 percent of income

### Gender inequality
- Progress in reducing gender inequality has been slow.
- Over the past 30 years women’s share of income has only slightly improved.
- Women’s share of global labor income:
  - "Progress in reducing gender inequality has been slow, with women still accounting for only 35 percent of global labor income." (source text)
- Time series percentages in source (years with associated percentages):
  - 1990 — 30.6%
  - 1995 — 32.5%
  - 2000 — 33.5%
  - 2005 — 34.2%
  - 2010 — 34.7%
  - 2015-2020 — (value shown in source header but not provided as a numeric percentage)
- Source text passages also state (verbatim fragments from the source):
  - "Women’s share of global labor income takes 19% of all income and emits 17% of global carbon emissions owns 38% of the world’s wealth" (as presented in the source layout)

### Policy implications and conclusions
- The authors emphasize that much can be done about inequality and that it is always a political choice.
- Better policy design can lead to fairer development pathways.
- The World Inequality Report 2022 adds new evidence and measures (wealth, income, carbon emissions, gendered labor income) to inform policy choices.

*Prepared by F&D’s ANDREW STANLEY based on the World Inequality Report 2022 from the World Inequality Lab.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/march/picture-this-inequality.pdf_