Wealth

How created value accumulates and in whose hands - the world's balance sheet and income statement.

Geographic and social concentration

The top 1% holds nearly half of global wealth; Gini 0.88. Regional distribution and the wealth pyramid of the adult population.

Layer 2 answers “how much wealth is there”; this page answers “in whose hands”. Global household wealth is sharply concentrated both geographically and by class: a small slice of the population holds nearly half the total, while the broad base gets almost no share of the pie.

0,88

Wealth Gini

0 fully equal, 1 fully unequal

%45

Top 1% share

of global household wealth

Bottom 50% share

of global household wealth

How wealth splits by class

Share of global household net wealth by band.

%45

%40

%14

Top 1% · %45Next 9% · %40Middle 40% · %14Bottom 50% · %1

The wealth pyramid of the adult population

Each threshold: how many adults (millions) and what share of total wealth. Few people, much wealth at the top; the reverse at the base.

Over $1M59 M people · %1,1

%46 wealth share

$100k - $1M627 M people · %11,4

%39 wealth share

$10k - $100k1.800 M people · %32,8

%13 wealth share

Under $10k2.900 M people · %52,5

%2 wealth share

Geographic distribution: wealth share vs population share

North America holds 7% of world population and more than a third of the wealth. In Asia-Pacific the ratio is reversed.

North America

Wealth share%35

Population share%7

Asia-Pacific (incl. China)

Wealth share%30

Population share%54

Europe

Wealth share%23

Population share%9

Latin America, Africa, India

Wealth share%12

Population share%30

Accumulation is not neutral: the flow settles into the same centres each year, and as the stock grows the distance between centre and base widens.

Sources & method →