If the wealth of the world was a cake, they would eat three quarters. In 2021, the 10% richest on the planet had more than 75% of the world’s wealth, according to the world inequality laboratory.
But if they remain at a high level, inequalities do not evolve in the same way everywhere. In some countries, they are strengthened while they take place in others. An analysis published by the Bestbrokers site and uses the OURD database in data data has identified countries where inequalities have been the most exacerbated since the beginning of the century.
China at the top of the pyramid
In the upper part of the classification, we find China, where the participation of wealth in 10% easier increased from 48% by 2000 to 68% in 2023, a jump of 20 percentage points. “With the rapid growth driven by the market, wealth in China has concentrated strongly in the hands of technology and real estate magnates,” explains Paul Hoffman.
In the second position, we find Cyprus, where the participation of national wealth captured by 10% of the rich increased by 16 points (from 50% in 2000 to 66% in 2023).
Third, India also saw a progress of inequalities with an increase of 11 points of wealth in the possession of the richest. Paul Hoffman links this increase with “significant growth in the sectors of technology, finance and real estate since the beginning of the liberalization of the economy in 1991, which had a considerable impact in the 2000s.” “At the same time, about 90 % of the Indian workforce still occupies informal and weak jobs, according to the ILO report on employment in India,” he says.
A part that stagnates in France
It should also be taken into account that in this Top 10, there are no less than 7 European countries, in particular Greece (+11 points), Malta and Slovenia (+9 points), Italy (+9 points) and Hungary (+8 points).
In France, the participation of national wealth owned by 10% richer has changed little and has been around 60% since the 2000s. A figure slightly higher than that of its European neighbors. It is 58.5% in Germany and 57% in the United Kingdom and has only increased in both countries from a point in just over 20 years.
The Netherlands are a good student in Europe with less than half of the wealth that belongs to 10% easier (45%). A part that was reduced by 10 points between 2000 and 2023.
South Africa, Brazil or the United States among the most unequal countries
Worldwide, countries where inequalities have been the most absorbed (while remaining at a high level in absolute terms) are mainly states of the African continent. Malawi (-19 percentage points), Burkina Faso (-17), Comoros (-17), the Central Republic of Africa (-16) and Lesotho (-14) have experienced the greatest falls of national wealth owned by 10 %richest.
Finally, among the countries where inequalities remain in the highest, we find in particular South Africa, where the richest have 86%of wealth, Namibia (80%), Colombia (79%), Brazil and Mexico (78%), Lebanon (73%) and the United States (71%).
Source: BFM TV
