World Inequality Report 2022 - Foreword

Oct 12, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa

World Inequality Report 2022 presents a data-driven assessment of inequality across regions, focusing on income and wealth concentration. The foreword describes decades of research and collaboration within the World Inequality Lab, emphasizing the difficulty of confronting persistent, often distorted narratives. It highlights that the bottom 50% receives under 15% of total earnings in nearly all major regions outside Europe, while wealth inequality is even more extreme, with the top 10% holding about 76% of global wealth.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages236

Reading Time1 h 23 min

AccessFree to download

Foreword

Research collaboration and purpose

Income inequality patterns

Wealth inequality and concentration

Historical trends and policy role

WORLD INEQUALITY REPORT 2022 Coordinated by Lucas Chancel (Lead author) Thomas Piketty Emmanuel Saez Gabriel Zucman Foreword by Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee WORLD INEQUALITY REPORT 2022 1 Coordinated by: Lucas Chancel Thomas Piketty Emmanuel Saez Gabriel Zucman Lead author: Lucas Chancel Research team: Felix Bajard François Burq Rowaida Moshrif Theresa Neef Anne-Sophie Robilliard Data coordinator: Rowaida Moshrif This report draws on recent research articles written by: Facundo Alvaredo Lydia Assouad Luis Bauluz Nitin Bharti Thomas Blanchet Lucas Chancel Léo Czajka Mauricio De Rosa Carmen Durrer Matthew Fisher-Post Ignacio Flores Bertrand Garbinti Amory Gethin Jonathan Goupille-Lebret Thanasak Jenmana Clara Martinez-Toledano Marc Morgan Rowaida Moshrif Theresa Neef Thomas Piketty Anne-Sophie Robilliard Emmanuel Saez Alice Sodano Li Yang Tancrède Voituriez Gabriel Zucman Alvaro Zuniga-Cordero The report also draws on the extensive work of researchers associated to the World [Inequality Database available at www.wid.world/team](Inequality Database available at www.wid.world/team) Communication manager: Olivia Ronsain Communication team: Michael Luze Top of mind Design: Latitude Website: La Quadrature du cercle Editing: Charlotte Graff Kathleen Weekley The authors thank the United Nations Development Programme for its role as a scientific partner in the production of this report. Special thanks to Achim Steiner, as well as to Pedro Conçeiçao, Heriberto Tapia, Mansour Ndiaye and their teams. World Inequality Lab, 2021 Creative Commons Licence 4.0 It is strictly prohibited to translate, transfer or reproduce this report into any other language without the permission of the publishers. How to cite this report: Chancel, L. , Piketty, T., Saez, E. , Zucman, G. et al. World Inequality Report 2022, World Inequality Lab. This report has a dedicated website. Explore [it: wir2022.wid.world](it: wir2022.wid.world)[ ](it: wir2022.wid.world)Design: [Nantes-www.agence-latitude.fr-0098/21](Nantes-www.agence-latitude.fr-0098/21) FOREWORD By Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo The job of holding up a mirror to the world can bea frustrating one. When the news is persistently bad, when the mirror highlights more wrinkles than we want to face up to, it is easy enough to find excuses—we are about to turn the corner, there is no other way to go, efficiency demands this, think of all the other good things that are happening, and the evergreen favorite, the data is wrong. Chasing down each of these narratives and slaying them takes stubbornness and hard work. Over the last twenty-five years, Thomas Piketty has been leading this fight, first by himself, then with Emmanuel Saez, Facundo Alvaredo, and the late Sir Tony Atkinson and, increasingly, with a growing team of collaborators, culminating in the World Inequality Lab. This report is the current flagship product of the Lab, prepared under the leadership of Lucas Chancel and also coordinated by Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saezand Gabriel Zucman. It is the product of a relentless data amassment which makes it possible to provide better answers to almost every question we want to ask about what is happening to inequality world-wide. The answer is not pretty. In every large region of the world with the exception of Europe, the share of the bottom 50% in total earnings is less than 15%(less than ten in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and the MENAS region) while the share of the richest 10% is over 40% and in many of the regions, closer to 60% . But what is perhaps even more striking is what is happening to wealth. The share of the bottom 50% of the world in total global wealth is 2% by their estimates, while the share of the top 10% is 76% . Since wealth is a major source of future economic gains, and increasingly, of power and influence, this presages further increases in inequality. Indeed, at the heart of th

FAQs

What is the central purpose of the World Inequality Report 2022?

It provides a flagship, data-based assessment to answer questions about what is happening to inequality worldwide, supported by extensive research coordination within the World Inequality Lab.

What does the foreword say about income inequality around the world?

In nearly every large region outside Europe, the bottom 50% receives less than 15% of total earnings, while the richest 10% receives over 40%.

How does the report describe trends in wealth inequality and what drives it?

It notes that the bottom 50% holds about 2% of total global wealth, while the top 10% holds about 76%, pointing to extreme concentration of economic power among a small super-rich minority.

Oct 12, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa