Global Wealth Gap Widens: Richest 10% Own 76% of World’s Assets

WISE NEWS PRESS / PARIS, FRANCE — DEC. 10, 2025

A landmark report released in Paris has revealed that the gap between the "super-rich" and the rest of the global population has deepened significantly since the 1990s, with the richest 10 percent of people now controlling three-quarters of the world's total wealth.

According to the study by the World Inequality Lab at the Paris School of Economics, while the top decile holds 76 percent of global wealth and 52 percent of all income, the poorest half of the world's population possesses only 2 percent of wealth and 8 percent of total income.

The Concentration of Extreme Wealth

The report highlights a staggering concentration of assets at the very top. The wealthiest 0.001 percent—approximately 56,000 multimillionaires—currently hold more than 6 percent of all global assets. This figure represents a significant increase from the mid-1990s, when this group held only 4 percent of global wealth.

Researchers, including Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, noted that "extreme wealth inequality is increasing rapidly". Since the 1990s, the wealth of billionaires has grown by an average of 8 percent annually, a rate nearly double that of the wealth growth for the poorest half of the population.

'Inequality Is a Political Choice'

The study argues that these disparities are driven by structural economic shifts. The share of income derived from labor has fallen from 61 percent in 1980 to 53 percent in 2025, while capital income has risen from 39 percent to 47 percent over the same period.

Furthermore, the middle class has seen the slowest income growth. Since 1980, the income of the poorest demographic grew by 1.8 percent and the top 10 percent by up to 3 percent, while the "middle 40 percent" saw their income rise by only 1 percent.

The authors assert that "inequality is a political choice" and advocate for a global minimum wealth tax. They estimate that even a modest tax on billionaires and centi-millionaires could generate revenues equivalent to between 0.45 and 1.11 percent of global GDP.

Climate and Gender Disparities

The report also draws a sharp link between wealth and the climate crisis. The richest 10 percent are responsible for 77 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions linked to private capital, whereas the poorest half contributes only 3 percent.

Additionally, gender inequality persists, with women earning on average only 61 percent of men's hourly wages. When unpaid domestic labor is factored in, this share drops to just 32 percent.

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