Income inequality: divergent trajectories, 1980-2016

The curves show the proportion of income owned by the most affluent sections of the populations in some states or regions between 1980 and 2016. Inequalities are more marked in the South (the Middle East, Africa, and Brazil) – where over half the national wealth is concentrated in the hands of the richest 10% – than they are in Europe. In India, inequality clearly increased over the period, in 2016 reaching the level of Brazil. This was also true of China and, to a lesser extent, the United States.