Income inequality in India continues to deepen, with the latest World Inequality Report 2026 showing that the top ten per cent of earners now capture fifty-eight per cent of the country’s national income, while the bottom fifty per cent receive only fifteen per cent. The findings place India among the most unequal nations globally, highlighting widening gaps across income, wealth and gender. The report, released by the World Inequality Lab and edited by economists Lucas Chancel, Ricardo Gómez-Carrera, Rowaida Moshrif and Thomas Piketty, draws from the work of over two hundred scholars worldwide.
Wealth Concentration Reaches New Highs
According to the report, wealth inequality remains even more severe than income inequality. The richest ten per cent of Indians hold nearly sixty-five per cent of all wealth, while the top one per cent alone accounts for around forty per cent. In comparison, the earlier World Inequality Report 2022 had noted that the top ten per cent controlled fifty-seven per cent of national income in 2021.
The report points out that globally, wealth has reached historic highs but is “extremely unevenly distributed.” The top 0.001 per cent fewer than sixty thousand multimillionaires worldwide now own more wealth than the entire bottom half of humanity combined.
Deep Structural Gaps in India
The report notes that India’s average annual income per capita stands at around six thousand two hundred euros (purchasing power parity), while average wealth is roughly twenty-eight thousand euros. Female labour force participation remains critically low at fifteen point seven per cent, showing no significant improvement over the past decade.
The authors underline that these figures reflect deep structural divides in the Indian economy. Inequality persists not only between the rich and the poor, but also within the top income groups, where wealth concentration has accelerated sharply.
India Loses Ground in Global Income Distribution
The report compares global income distribution patterns in 1980 and 2025. In 1980, a larger share of India’s population fell within the global middle forty per cent. In contrast, nearly all of India’s population today is concentrated in the bottom fifty per cent of the global ranking. China, meanwhile, has moved significantly upward, with more of its population joining the global middle and upper-middle income groups.
Sub-Saharan Africa has also remained largely within the lower half of the global income distribution.
Persistent Gender Inequality Across Regions
The World Inequality Report 2026 highlights stark gender inequality worldwide. Excluding unpaid work, women earn only sixty-one per cent of what men earn for every working hour. When unpaid labour is included, the number drops to thirty-two per cent. Women, globally, capture just over one-quarter of total labour income a share that has barely changed since 1990.
The gap is even wider in the Middle East and North Africa, where women receive only sixteen per cent of total labour income. In South and Southeast Asia, the figure is around twenty per cent.
Climate Inequality: The Emissions Gap
The report draws a direct link between wealth concentration and carbon emissions. The poorest half of the global population accounts for just three per cent of emissions tied to private capital ownership, while the richest ten per cent contribute seventy-seven per cent. Alarmingly, the wealthiest one per cent alone are responsible for forty-one per cent of emissions associated with private capital.
The authors argue that climate goals cannot be achieved without addressing extreme wealth concentration and the emissions tied to it.
The report stresses that policy interventions can significantly reduce inequality, but taxation systems across the world are failing where they are needed most among the ultra-rich. Effective income tax rates rise for most of the population but sharply fall for billionaires and centi-millionaires.
This regressive pattern, the report states, deprives governments of essential resources required for investments in education, health care and climate action.
Public Investment and Redistribution Key to Solutions
The authors call for stronger public investment in universal health care, high-quality education, childcare and nutrition programmes. Redistributive programmes such as pensions, unemployment benefits and targeted cash transfers can also play a vital role in reducing disparities.
Thomas Piketty, Co-Director of the World Inequality Lab, said the findings come at a politically sensitive moment. “Only by continuing the historic movement toward equality will we be able to address the social and climate challenges of the coming decades,” he said.