Income and wealth inequality within countries and regions

Income and wealth inequality within countries and regions

While incomes are distributed quite equally in nations like Czech Republic, Iceland and Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and Chile have very unequal income distributions. Comparing world regions, income inequality is the lowest in Europe, and the highest in the Middle East. In nearly all countries, income inequality within countries has increased in the last decades, however, at different paces.

Wealth is in most cases distributed more unequally than income. Since the 1970s wealth inequality rose within most countries and on a global scale. Over the last decades, neoliberal globalisation has shifted power relations and led to a diminishing share of labour income as well as to increased inequality between different types of jobs. Another shift of power balance has taken place between private and public institutions through privatisation of public assets, reducing the possibilities to counter inequality through public programs. (4)