World Inequality Report: Ultra-Elite Hold Triple the Wealth of Poorest Half

By Al Ahed Staff, Agencies

A new World Inequality Report warns that global economic disparity has reached extreme and unsustainable levels, with fewer than 60,000 individuals—just 0.001% of humanity—now holding wealth equivalent to three times that of the poorest half of the world’s population.

Compiled by 200 researchers worldwide, the 2026 report shows that the wealth share of this ultra-elite has expanded sharply over the past three decades, rising from nearly 4% of global assets in 1995 to more than 6% today.

The fortunes of multimillionaires have grown at an annual rate of roughly 8% since the 1990s—almost double the pace experienced by the bottom 50%.

The imbalance extends throughout the upper tiers of the global economy. The top 10% now take in more income than the remaining 90% combined, while the poorest half of the world receives less than 10% of total global earnings.

Wealth inequality is even starker: the richest 10% control about 75% of all global assets, leaving the bottom half with just 2%. In nearly every region surveyed, the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.

Ricardo Gómez-Carrera of the Paris School of Economics—who leads the research team alongside economist Thomas Piketty—warned that current trends are creating “a world in which a tiny minority commands unprecedented financial power, while billions remain excluded from even basic economic stability.”