The third edition of the ‘World Inequality Report’, a milestone in the global debate on inequality, was recently released. The report states that among the world population (adults), the top 0.001% by wealth (about 56,000 people) hold three times as much wealth as the bottom 50% (2.8 billion people). The share of net wealth owned by the top 0.001% was 4% of the world total thirty years ago but has risen to 6% this year. In the foreword to the report, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University called this “shocking,” underscoring how global inequality is becoming ever more extreme.

The World Inequality Lab stated in the ‘World Inequality Report 2026’, published on the 10th, that “inequality has long been a defining feature of the global economy, but by 2025 it reached a level requiring urgent action.”

The World Inequality Lab is a research network whose founders include Thomas Piketty, a professor at the Paris School of Economics, who drew global attention to inequality with the 2013 publication of <Capital in the Twenty-First Century>. Since the first edition was released in late 2017, the World Inequality Report has come out on a four-year cycle, based on data compiled by more than 200 researchers worldwide.

The report points out that global inequality is steadily worsening. First, the top 10% by income worldwide earn more than the remaining 90% combined, while the bottom half take less than 10% of global income.

Wealth inequality is even more severe. The top 10% by assets hold 75% of wealth, whereas the bottom half hold only 2%.

Narrowing the comparison from the top 10% to the top 0.001% makes the divide even starker. Fewer than 60,000 people in the top 0.001% hold three times as much wealth as the bottom half. The rise in the top 0.001% share of net wealth from about 4% in 1995 to above 6% today testifies to accelerating wealth concentration.

Inequality is severe not only in wealth but also across climate, gender, and opportunity. The top 10% by assets account for 77% of ‘carbon emissions tied to private capital ownership,’ while the bottom 50% account for just 3%. This analysis focuses not on emissions from individual consumption but on who owns the capital, such as companies and assets, that emits carbon. The report states that “the climate crisis is inseparable from the concentration of wealth.”

The gender pay gap also persists. Globally, women earn 61% of the hourly income of men, and when unpaid work such as housework and care is included, the ratio falls to 32%. Gaps in public education by country have entrenched inequality of opportunity. The per capita income gap between Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa is about tenfold, while the gap in public education spending per child is nearly thirty-fivefold.

The report also notes that the global financial system that favors ‘rich countries’ is a driver of inequality.

Wealthy countries such as the United States, Europe, and Japan can raise funds at low interest rates and then invest in higher-yielding foreign assets. Because their government bonds are classified as safe assets with steady demand, they are issued at low interest rates.

By contrast, developing countries face the opposite conditions, leading to outflows of financial income in the form of interest and dividends paid to foreign investors. Under this global financial structure, poor countries transfer resources exceeding 1% of world gross domestic product (GDP) to rich countries every year. This erodes their capacity to invest in education, health, and infrastructure, and widens inequality within poor countries as well.

The report explains that “the financial privileges of rich countries are not the result of market efficiency but the product of institutional design that places reserve-currency issuers and financial hubs at the core of the international financial system.” Whereas imperial powers once turned deficits into surpluses by exploiting colonial resources, today advanced economies achieve similar results through the global financial system.

The report stresses that inequality can be substantially reduced through a range of policy tools. Proven instruments exist, such as public investment in education and health, redistribution programs, progressive tax systems, and fair labor standards. “The tools already exist. The issue is political will,” the report states.

In particular, it finds that if an internationally agreed minimum tax rate were applied to the assets held by the global ultra-wealthy, it would raise resources equivalent to 0.45% to 1.11% of global GDP.

Stiglitz said, “This report reminds us once again that inequality is not fate but the result of choices, and that a fairer and more sustainable society is fully achievable if independent research and political will are combined.”