New Delhi: India’s top 1% grew richer by 62% between 2000-2023, a new report by experts on global wealth inequality has found.

According to the report, the richest 1% also increased their share of wealth in over half of all countries, accounting for 74% of the global population.

While the global top 1% amassed 41% of all new wealth created between 2000-2024, the bottom half grew its wealth by just 1%, the report said.

The study, commissioned by the South African Presidency of the G20, was led by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and authored by the 2025 G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality, including Jayati Ghosh, Adriana Abdenur, Winnie Byanyima, Imraan Valodia and Wanga Zembe-Mkabile.

Stiglitz warned that global inequality had reached “emergency” levels and posed a threat to democracy, economic stability and climate progress.

Countries with high inequality were seven times more likely to experience democratic decline than more equal countries, the report said.

Also read: India's Income Inequality in 2023 Higher Than 1950s Despite Post-Covid Respite: Report

Citing the rise in per capita incomes in populous countries like India and China, the report said that inter-country inequality seemed to have reduced as high-population countries reduced the share of high-income countries in the global GDP.

"Extreme inequality is a choice. It is not inevitable and can be reversed with political will. This can be greatly facilitated by global coordination, and in this regard, the G20 has a critical role," the report said.

"Since 2020, global poverty reduction has slowed almost to a halt and reversed in some regions. 2.3 billion people face moderate or severe food insecurity, up by 335 million since 2019. 26 and half the world's population is still not covered by essential health services, with 1.3 billion people impoverished by out-of-pocket health spending," it added.

The report also noted the shrinking middle class around the world. “There has also been a weakening of the middle-income groups in many parts of the world, reflected in more insecure incomes and precarious material lives. In some countries, there is strong evidence of an evisceration of the middle, which can have significant consequences for economic and political stability,” it said.

The report proposed establishing an International Panel on Inequality (IPI), similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to monitor global trends and guide policymaking.

IPI, to be launched while South Africa presides the G20, would give governments "authoritative
assessments and analyses of inequality.”

“The idea of the Panel is inspired in part by the success of the IPCC...Like climate change, unrestrained and growing inequalities also represent a major threat to the global community. It is imperative that we have better knowledge about its evolution and how proposed policy changes might alleviate it—or make it worse,” the report said.

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