The report said that India stands as a poor and very unequal country with a thriving elite.
Highlight
- The report states that India stands as a poor and very unequal country with a thriving elite
- Average household property in India is Rs 983,010
- The COVID crisis has exacerbated the disparities between the very rich and the rest of the population
World Inequality Report 2022: According to a report, India stands as a poor and very unequal country, with the top 1 per cent of the population accounting for one-fifth of the total national income in 2021 and the bottom half with just 13 per cent. The report titled ‘World Inequality Report 2022’ is authored by Lucas Chancel, co-director of the World Inequality Lab, and coordinated by several experts including French economist Thomas Piketty.
It further said that India is now one of the most unequal countries in the world.
The report states that the average national income of the Indian adult population is Rs 204,200. While the bottom 50 per cent earn Rs 53,610, the top 10 per cent earn more than 20 times (Rs 1,166,520).
“While the top 10 per cent and top 1 per cent account for 57 per cent and 22 per cent respectively of the total national income, the bottom 50 per cent share has come down to 13 per cent. India stands as a poor and very unequal country. with the affluent elite,” it said. According to the report, the median household wealth in India is Rs 983,010.
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It observed that liberalization and liberalization policies implemented since the mid-1980s have led to “one of the largest increases in income and wealth inequality seen in the world”. It also said that gender inequalities are very high in India. “The share of female labor income is as high as 18 per cent. This is much lower than the average in Asia (21 per cent, excluding China),” the report said. Higher than the average share in the Middle East (15 percent).
The world map of inequalities shows that national average income levels are poor predictors of inequality – in high-income countries, some are very unequal (such as the US), while others are relatively equal (Sweden).
“This is true between low- and middle-income countries, with some exhibiting extreme inequality (Brazil and India), somewhat high levels (China) and moderate to relatively low levels (Malaysia, Uruguay).
Income and wealth inequalities have been increasing almost everywhere since the 1980s, following a series of deregulation and liberalization programs that took different forms in different countries, the report said.
“The growth has not been uniform: some countries have experienced spectacular increases in inequality (including the US, Russia and India), while others (European countries and China) have experienced relatively low growth,” it said.
The report said that in 2021, after three decades of trade and financial globalization, global inequalities are highly apparent.
“They are as great today as they were at the height of Western imperialism in the early 20th century,” it said.
The report’s lead author, Lucas Chancel, said the COVID crisis has exacerbated inequalities between the very wealthy and the rest of the population. “Yet, in rich countries, government intervention prevented a massive increase in poverty, in poorer countries this was not the case. This shows the importance of social states in the fight against poverty,” he said.
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