Richest 1% earn 20% of global income

By 2014, the share of the top 1% in total income had risen to 22%, while the richest 10 per cent accounted for 56% of national income

Income inequality across the world has risen quite rapidly since the 1980s. The richest 1 per cent in the world now accounts for 20 per cent of total global income, up from around 16 per cent in 1980. By comparison, the share of the bottom 50 per cent in global income has oscillated around 9 per cent since the 1980s, finds a new study. World Inequality Report 2018 finds that in 2016, the top 10 per cent of the population in India, Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for a 55 per cent of their country’s national income. For the US and Canada, the corresponding number was 47 per cent. The report also says income inequality in India has reached historically high levels. In 1983, the top 1 per cent captured only 6 per cent of national income. The top 10 per cent accounted for 30 per cent, while the bottom 50 per cent earned roughly 24 per cent of total income. 

But by 2014, the share of the top 1 per cent in total income had risen to 22 per cent, while the richest 10 per cent accounted for 56 per cent of national income. By comparison, the share of the bottom 50 per cent declined to just 16 per cent.