India’s inequality report – global wake‑up call

India’s Stark Inequality Revealed in Global Report

Why in the News?

The World Inequality Report 2026, released by the World Inequality Lab, highlights India’s deepening income, wealth, and gender inequalities. It shows the top 10% earning a majority of national income while the bottom 50% continues to remain severely under-represented economically. The report also touches on environmental concerns, including the need for environmental impact assessments and adherence to EIA notifications.

Key Findings on Income and Wealth Inequality in India:

• The top 10% in India earn 58% of national income, while the bottom 50% receive only 15%, making India among the world’s most unequal economies.
• Wealth concentration is sharper: the richest 10% hold 65% of national wealth, and the top 1% owns 40%, reflecting extreme skewness.
• The bottom 50% owns just 6% of wealth, and the middle 40% holds around 28%, showing limited upward mobility.
• Compared to the 2022 World Inequality Report, inequality has worsened — the top 10% earlier held 57% income, while the bottom 50% had 13%.
• The report notes that India’s female labour participation at 15.7% has shown no improvement in a decade, reinforcing structural gender disparities.

Global Inequality Patterns and India’s Position

• Globally, the top 1% alone holds 37% of global wealth, roughly equal to the combined wealth of the adult populations of China, India, US, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, and Russia.
• The top one-in-a-million elites hold 3% of global wealth, more than the entire bottom 50% of the world’s population.
• In 1980, India and China were concentrated in the bottom half of the global income distribution. By 2025, China has moved upward, with many entering the middle 40%, while India continues to remain stuck in the lower half.
• The report highlights severe gender inequality: globally, women earn only 61% of men’s income, and when unpaid work is included, just 21%.
• The climate dimension shows that the wealthiest 1% contribute 41% of emissions tied to private capital, almost double the emissions of the bottom 90% combined. This underscores the need for ex post facto or retrospective environmental clearances to address historical environmental impacts.