India’s richest 1% have expanded their share of wealth sharply over the past two decades, gaining 62% between 2000 and 2023, according to a new G20-backed report led by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz.

Additionally, it found that the richest 1 per cent of people in the world captured 41 per cent of all new wealth created between 2000 and 2024, while the bottom half of the global population received only 1 per cent. In India, the wealth concentration among the top 1% has grown faster than in China, where the increase was 54% over the same period.

The data also points to the costs of ignoring the issue. Countries with high inequality are seven times more likely to see democratic backsliding. Progress on poverty has slowed or reversed since 2020. 2.3 billion people now face food insecurity, up by 335 million since before the pandemic. And about 1.3 billion people are being pushed into poverty by medical expenses, showing the limits of existing public health systems.