India's Top 1% Grew its Wealth by 62% Since 2000: G20 Report

Between 2000 and 2023, the richest 1 per cent increased their share of the wealth in over half of all countries, which contain 74 per cent of the global population. In India, the top 1 per cent have grown their share of wealth by 62 per cent over this period, a G20 Committee chaired by Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz said in its report.

The richest 1 per cent captured 41 per cent of new wealth since the year 2000, while the bottom 50 per cent of humanity have increased their wealth by just 1 per cent. The richest 1 per cent has seen their average wealth rise by $1.3 million, while the bottom 50 per cent have seen their wealth rise by just $585 over the same period.

This top 1 per cent increased their average wealth by 2,655 times as much as the bottom 50 per cent. New data on the major increase in inherited wealth shows $70 trillion of wealth is expected to be handed down to heirs over the coming ten years, raising a major challenge to social mobility, fairness and equality of opportunity.

About 83 per cent of all countries, accounting for 90 per cent of the world’s population, meet the World Bank’s definition of high inequality. Countries with high inequality are seven times more likely to experience democratic decline than more equal countries.

Amid growing concerns about democratic capture associated with wealth concentration, the Committee has recommended creation of a new international and independent panel – inspired by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – that would monitor trends and assess its drivers and consequences and evaluate alternative policies for addressing it, to inform governments, policy makers, and the international community.

The study also found that in the United States, African American women are more than twice as likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than white women, or women in the state of Kerala in India.