Over ** million individuals residing in the United States belonged to the global top one percent of ultra-high net worth individuals worldwide in 2022. China ranked second, with over **** million top one percent wealth holders globally. France followed in third.

In 2023, roughly 1.49 billion adults worldwide had a net worth of less than 10,000 U.S. dollars. By comparison, 58 million adults had a net worth of more than one million U.S. dollars in the same year. Wealth distribution The distribution of wealth is an indicator of economic inequality. The United Nations says that wealth includes the sum of natural, human, and physical assets. Wealth is not synonymous with income, however, because having a large income can be depleted if one has significant expenses. In 2023, nearly 1,700 billionaires had a total wealth between one to two billion U.S. dollars. Wealth worldwide China had the highest number of billionaires in 2023, with the United States following behind. That same year, New York had the most billionaires worldwide.

Graph and download economic data for Share of Net Worth Held by the Top 1% (99th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBST01134) from Q3 1989 to Q1 2025 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Net Worth Held by the Top 0.1% (99.9th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBLTP1246) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

In the first quarter of 2025, almost two-thirds percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by the top 10 percent of earners. In comparison, the lowest 50 percent of earners only owned 2.5 percent of the total wealth. Income inequality in the U.S. Despite the idea that the United States is a country where hard work and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps will inevitably lead to success, this is often not the case. In 2023, 7.4 percent of U.S. households had an annual income under 15,000 U.S. dollars. With such a small percentage of people in the United States owning such a vast majority of the country’s wealth, the gap between the rich and poor in America remains stark. The top one percent The United States was the country with the most billionaires in the world in 2025. Elon Musk, with a net worth of 342 billion U.S. dollars, was among the richest people in the United States in 2025. Over the past 50 years, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio has exploded, causing the gap between rich and poor to grow, with some economists theorizing that this gap is the largest it has been since right before the Great Depression.

Graph and download economic data for Minimum Wealth Cutoff for the Top 0.1% (99.9th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBLTP1311) from Q3 1989 to Q3 2022 about wealth, percentile, and USA.

Between December 2019 and 2021, the top one percent of earners accumulated 63 percent of all new wealth worldwide. This is more than six times more wealth than accumulated by the bottom 90 percent over the same time period.

Global wealth distribution Newly generated wealth landing in the hands of the few is not a new story and has been the focus of international development policy for many years. Looking at a regional level, Latin America was the region with the starkest distribution of wealth. In this region, 77 percent of the wealth was held by the richest 10 percent in 2021, and only 0.5 percent held by the poorest 50 percent. At an individual level, around 2.82 billion adults worldwide had a net worth of less than 10,000 U.S. dollars in 2021.

Billionaires In 2021, the highest concentration of billionaires could be found in North America. However, China had the largest number of billionaires in its population in 2022, with most living in Beijing. Looking at wealth distribution amongst billionaires themselves, 20 people had fortunes of 50 billion U.S. dollars or more, but the majority of billionaires had a personal fortune between two and five billion U.S. dollars.

In December 2022, Elon Musk slipped from the top spot of richest people on Earth. The number one spot was taken by French magnate, Bernard Arnault of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

In 2024, Switzerland led the ranking of countries with the highest average wealth per adult, with approximately ******* U.S. dollars per person. The United States was ranked second with an average wealth of around ******* U.S. dollars per adult, followed by Hong Kong SAR. However, the figures do not show the actual distribution of wealth. The Gini index shows wealth disparities in countries worldwide. Does wealth guarantee a longer life? As the adage goes, “money can’t buy you happiness,” yet wealth and income are continuously correlated to the quality of life of individuals in different countries around the world. While greater levels of wealth may not guarantee a higher quality of life, it certainly increases an individual’s chances of having a longer one. Although they do not show the whole picture, life expectancy at birth is higher in the wealthier world regions. Does money bring happiness? A number of the world’s happiest nations also feature in the list of those countries for which average income was highest. Finland, however, which was the happiest country worldwide in 2022, is missing from the list of the top twenty countries with the highest wealth per adult. As such, the explanation for this may be the fact that a larger proportion of the population has access to a high-income relative to global levels. Measures of quality of life Criticism of the use of income or wealth as a proxy for quality of life led to the creation of the United Nations’ Human Development Index. Although income is included within the index, it also has other factors taken into account, such as health and education. As such, the countries with the highest human development index can be correlated to those with the highest income levels. That said, none of the above measures seek to assess the physical and mental environmental impact of a high quality of life sourced through high incomes. The happy planet index demonstrates that the inclusion of experienced well-being and ecological footprint in place of income and other proxies for quality of life results in many of the world’s materially poorer nations being included in the happiest.

In 2024, there were nearly 24 million people with a net worth of over one million U.S. dollars in the United States, which put the country on the top of the ranking. China was ranked second in that year, with more than six million individuals with wealth exceeding one million U.S. dollars. France followed in third with around three million millionaires.

This table presents income shares, thresholds, tax shares, and total counts of individual Canadian tax filers, with a focus on high income individuals (95% income threshold, 99% threshold, etc.). Income thresholds are geography-specific; for example, the number of Nova Scotians in the top 1% will be calculated as the number of taxfiling Nova Scotians whose total income exceeded the 99% income threshold of Nova Scotian tax filers. Different definitions of income are available in the table namely market, total, and after-tax income, both with and without capital gains.

The massive wealth inequality in the world is underpinned by this chart: while *** percent of the world's population had fortunes of more than one million U.S. dollars in 2025, over ** percent of the global population had a total wealth of less than 10,000 U.S. dollars.

Graph and download economic data for Net Worth Held by the Bottom 50% (1st to 50th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBLB50107) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

United States US: Income Share Held by Highest 10% data was reported at 30.600 % in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 30.100 % for 2013. United States US: Income Share Held by Highest 10% data is updated yearly, averaging 30.100 % from Dec 1979 (Median) to 2016, with 11 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 30.600 % in 2016 and a record low of 25.300 % in 1979. United States US: Income Share Held by Highest 10% data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Percentage share of income or consumption is the share that accrues to subgroups of population indicated by deciles or quintiles.; ; World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than one thousand six hundred household surveys across 164 countries in six regions and 25 other high income countries (industrialized economies). While income distribution data are published for all countries with data available, poverty data are published for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. See PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/WhatIsNew.aspx) for definitions of geographical regions and industrialized countries.

Key information about United States Monthly Earnings

• United States Monthly Earnings stood at 4,901 USD in Feb 2025, compared with the previous figure of 4,887 USD in Jan 2025
• US Monthly Earnings data is updated monthly, available from Mar 2006 to Feb 2025, with an average number of 3,469 USD
• The data reached the an all-time high of 4,901 USD in Feb 2025 and a record low of 2,743 USD in Mar 2006

• In the latest reports, US Population reached 341 million people in Dec 2024
• Unemployment Rate of US increased to 4 % in Feb 2025
• The country's Labour Force Participation Rate remained the same rate at 62 % in Feb 2025

By 2030, the middle-class population in Asia-Pacific is expected to increase from **** billion people in 2015 to **** billion people. In comparison, the middle-class population of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase from *** million in 2015 to *** million in 2030. Worldwide wealth While the middle-class has been on the rise, there is still a huge disparity in global wealth and income. The United States had the highest number of individuals belonging to the top one percent of wealth holders, and the value of global wealth is only expected to increase over the coming years. Around ** percent of the world’s population had assets valued at less than 10,000 U.S. dollars, while less than *** percent had assets of more than one million U.S. dollars. Asia had the highest percentage of investable assets in the world in 2018, whereas Oceania had the highest percentage of non-investable assets. The middle-class The middle class is the group of people whose income falls in the middle of the scale. China accounted for over half of the global population for middle-class wealth in 2017. In the United States, the debate about the middle class “disappearing” has been a popular topic due to the increase in wealth among the top billionaires in the nation. Due to this, there have been arguments to increase taxes on the rich to help support the middle class.

The World Top Incomes Database provides statistical information on the shares of top income groups for 30 countries. The construction of this database was possible thanks to the research of over thirty contributing authors. There has been a marked revival of interest in the study of the distribution of top incomes using tax data. Beginning with the research by Thomas Piketty of the long-run distribution of top incomes in France, a succession of studies has constructed top income share time series over the long-run for more than twenty countries to date. These projects have generated a large volume of data, which are intended as a research resource for further analysis. In using data from income tax records, these studies use similar sources and methods as the pioneering work by Kuznets for the United States.The findings of recent research are of added interest, since the new data provide estimates covering nearly all of the twentieth century -a length of time series unusual in economics. In contrast to existing international databases, generally restricted to the post-1970 or post-1980 period, the top income data cover a much longer period, which is important because structural changes in income and wealth distributions often span several decades. The data series is fairly homogenous across countries, annual, long-run, and broken down by income source for several cases. Users should be aware also about their limitations. Firstly, the series measure only top income shares and hence are silent on how inequality evolves elsewhere in the distribution. Secondly, the series are largely concerned with gross incomes before tax. Thirdly, the definition of income and the unit of observation (the individual vs. the family) vary across countries making comparability of levels across countries more difficult. Even within a country, there are breaks in comparability that arise because of changes in tax legislation affecting the definition of income, although most studies try to correct for such changes to create homogenous series. Finally and perhaps most important, the series might be biased because of tax avoidance and tax evasion. The first theme of the research programme is the assembly and analysis of historical evidence from fiscal records on the long-run development of economic inequality. “Long run” is a relative term, and here it means evidence dating back before the Second World War, and extending where possible back into the nineteenth century. The time span is determined by the sources used, which are based on taxes on incomes, earnings, wealth and estates. Perspective on current concerns is provided by the past, but also by comparison with other countries. The second theme of the research programme is that of cross-country comparisons. The research is not limited to OECD countries and will draw on evidence globally. In order to understand the drivers of inequality, it is necessary to consider the sources of economic advantage. The third theme is the analysis of the sources of income, considering separately the roles of earned incomes and property income, and examining the historical and comparative evolution of earned and property income, and their joint distribution. The fourth theme is the long-run trend in the distribution of wealth and its transmission through inheritance. Here again there are rich fiscal data on the passing of estates at death. The top income share series are constructed, in most of the cases presented in this database, using tax statistics (China is an exception; for the time being the estimates come from households surveys). The use of tax data is often regarded by economists with considerable disbelief. These doubts are well justified for at least two reasons. The first is that tax data are collected as part of an administrative process, which is not tailored to the scientists' needs, so that the definition of income, income unit, etc., are not necessarily those that we would have chosen. This causes particular difficulties for comparisons across countries, but also for time-series analysis where there have been substantial changes in the tax system, such as the moves to and from the joint taxation of couples. Secondly, it is obvious that those paying tax have a financial incentive to present their affairs in a way that reduces tax liabilities. There is tax avoidance and tax evasion. The rich, in particular, have a strong incentive to understate their taxable incomes. Those with wealth take steps to ensure that the return comes in the form of asset appreciation, typically taxed at lower rates or not at all. Those with high salaries seek to ensure that part of their remuneration comes in forms, such as fringe benefits or stock-options which receive favorable tax treatment. Both groups may make use of tax havens that allow income to be moved beyond the reach of the national tax net. These shortcomings limit what can be said from tax data, but this does not mean that the data are worthless. Like all economic data, they measure with error the 'true' variable in which we are interested. References Atkinson, Anthony B. and Thomas Piketty (2007). Top Incomes over the Twentieth Century: A Contrast between Continental European and English-Speaking Countries (Volume 1). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 585 pp. Atkinson, Anthony B. and Thomas Piketty (2010). Top Incomes over the Twentieth Century: A Global Perspective (Volume 2). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 776 pp. Atkinson, Anthony B., Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez (2011). Top Incomes in the Long Run of History, Journal of Economic Literature, 49(1), pp. 3-71. Kuznets, Simon (1953). Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income and Savings. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 707 pp. Piketty, Thomas (2001). Les Hauts Revenus en France au 20ème siècle. Paris: Grasset, 807 pp. Piketty, Thomas (2003). Income Inequality in France, 1901-1998, Journal of Political Economy, 111(5), pp. 1004-42.

In the third quarter of 2024, the top ten percent of earners in the United States held over ** percent of total wealth. This is fairly consistent with the second quarter of 2024. Comparatively, the wealth of the bottom ** percent of earners has been slowly increasing since the start of the *****, though remains low. Wealth distribution in the United States by generation can be found here.

PLEASE USE THE LATEST VERSION INSTEAD OF THIS ONE

This dataset provides a gridded subnational datasets for

• Income inequality (Gini coefficient) at admin 1 level
• Gross national income (GNI) per capita PPP at admin 1 level

The datasets are based on reported subnational admin data and spans three decades from 1990 to 2021.

The dataset is presented in details in the following publication. Please cite this paper when using data.

Chrisendo D, Niva V, Hoffman R, Sayyar SM, Rocha J, Sandström V, Solt F, Kummu M. 2024. Income inequality has increased for over two-thirds of the global population. Preprint. doi: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5548291/v1

Code is available at following repositories:

• Gini coefficient data creation: https://github.com/mattikummu/subnatGini
• GNI per capita data creation: https://github.com/mattikummu/subnatGNI
• analyses for the article: https://github.com/mattikummu/gini_gni_analyses

The following data is given (formats in brackets)

• Income inequality (Gini coefficient) at admin 0 level (national) (GeoTIFF, gpkg, csv)
• Income inequality (Gini coefficient) at admin 1 level (subnational) (GeoTIFF, gpkg, csv)
• Gross national income (GNI) per capita PPP at admin 0 level (national) (GeoTIFF, gpkg, csv)
• Gross national income (GNI) per capita PPP at admin 1 level (subnational) (GeoTIFF, gpkg, csv)
• Slope for Gini coefficient at admin 1 level (GeoTIFF; slope is given also in gpk and csv files)
• Slope for GNI per capita at admin 1 level (GeoTIFF; slope is given also in gpk and csv files)
• Input data for the script that was used to generate the Gini coefficient (input_data_gini.zip)
• Input data for the script that was used to generate the GNI per capita PPP (input_data_GNI.zip)

Files are named as follows
Format: raster data (GeoTIFF) starts with rast_*, polygon data (gpkg) with polyg_*, and tabulated with tabulated_*.
Admin levels: adm0 for admin 0 level, adm1 for admin 1 level
Product type:

• _gini_disp_ for gini coefficient based on disposable income
• _gni_perCapita_ for GNI per capita PPP

Metadata

Grids

Resolution: 5 arc-min (0.083333333 degrees)

Spatial extent: Lon: -180, 180; -90, 90 (xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax)

Coordinate ref system: EPSG:4326 - WGS 84

Format: Multiband geotiff; one band for each year over 1990-2021

Unit: no unit for Gini coefficient and PPP USD in 2017 international dollars for GNI per capita

Geospatial polygon (gpkg) files:

Spatial extent: -180, 180; -90, 83.67 (xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax)

Temporal extent: annual over 1990-2021

Coordinate ref system: EPSG:4326 - WGS 84

Format: gkpk

Unit: no unit for Gini coefficient and PPP USD in 2017 international dollars for GNI per capita

Italy AAHI: Number of Income Earner: One data was reported at 18,257.000 EUR in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 17,637.000 EUR for 2015. Italy AAHI: Number of Income Earner: One data is updated yearly, averaging 17,367.500 EUR from Dec 2003 (Median) to 2016, with 14 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 18,257.000 EUR in 2016 and a record low of 14,431.000 EUR in 2003. Italy AAHI: Number of Income Earner: One data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Institute of Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Italy – Table IT.H014: Average Annual Household Income.