On December 10, 2025, the World Inequality Lab will release the 2026 World Inequality Report, offering the latest and most comprehensive analysis of global inequality data.
Following the 2018 and 2022 editions, this report will be the most up-to-date synthesis of international research efforts to track global inequalities. The data and analysis presented in the report are based on the work of over 200 fellow researchers over four years, located across all continents and contributing to the World Inequality Database, maintained by the World Inequality Lab. This vast network collaborates with tax authorities, statistical institutions, universities, and international organizations to harmonize, analyze, and disseminate comparable international inequality data.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Jayati Ghosh and Joseph Stiglitz
Executive Summary
Introduction
1. Global Economic Inequality
The world is becoming richer, but unequally
Understanding inequality through population groups
Extreme and rising income inequality
Wealth inequality is larger, more extreme, and rising faster
Two centuries of persistent and extreme income inequality
Regional inequality is stark across and within regions
2. Regional Income Inequality
Global and regional shifts in income and population since 1800
Income inequality across the world in 2025
Income inequality within regions in 2025
Income inequality within countries in 2025
3. Regional Wealth Inequality
Wealth inequality trends across regions
Private wealth is rising while public wealth stagnates
The world distribution of wealth by region
Country-by-country patterns of wealth concentration
4. Gender Inequality
Humanity works fewer hours, but the benefits are unequal across genders
Female labor income shares remain well below equality
Women work more hours everywhere: the gender gap is larger than we previously thought
Women are employed less than men
Employed women earn less than employed men
The role of education in improving the gender gap
Main takeaways
5. Exorbitant Privilege
The U.S. exorbitant privilege has evolved into a structural privilege of the rich world
Rich countries are global financial rentiers by political design, not because of market dynamics
Barriers for reducing inequality across countries
Need for reforms in the international financial, trade, and monetary systems
6. Climate, a Capital Problem
The carbon footprint of capital
Decarbonizing at home, burning fuels abroad?
Climate change already shapes the distribution of private and public wealth
Climate policy and the future distribution of wealth
7. Multi-millionaires Taxation
Why progressive taxation matters
Regressivity at the top: safeguarding progressivity at the top
Tax justice and the potential of a global wealth tax
Coordination between countries strengthens the feasibility of reducing tax evasion and avoidance
8. Political Cleavages
Political representation of the working class is low and rapidly declining
Income and education divides have disconnected in Western democracies
Non-Western democracies have different political divide structures
The return of geography in political conflict: regional and rural–urban cleavages
The explanatory power of geosocial class is stronger than ever
Glossary
Country Sheets
Algeria; Argentina; Australia; Bangladesh; Brazil; Canada; Chile; China; Colombia; Denmark; Egypt; France; Germany; Hungary; India; Indonesia; Iran; Italy; Ivory Coast; Japan; Mexico; Netherlands; New Zealand; Niger; Norway; Pakistan; Philippines; Poland; Russia; South Africa; South Korea; Spain; Sweden; Taiwan; Thailand; Türkiye; U.A.E.; United Kingdom; United States; Vietnam.
PRESS CONTACT
For media inquiries, to receive an embargoed version of the report and schedule interview, please contact: Alice Fauvel, Communications Manager, alice.fauvel[at]psemail.eu
