Report Finds 0.001% Hold Three Times the Wealth of Poorest Half of Humanity
A recent report reveals that 0.001% of people, fewer than 60,000 individuals, hold three times the wealth of the bottom half of humanity. The top 10% own 75% of global wealth, and the top 10% of income earners earn more than the bottom 90% combined. The poorest half holds about 2% of wealth and accounts for less than 10% of total global earnings.
In nearly all regions worldwide, the wealthiest 1% are richer than the bottom 90% combined. The share of wealth held by the 0.001% rose from approximately 4% in 1995 to over 6% in 2025, with multimillionaires’ wealth growing around 8% annually since the 1990s.
The report also highlights the compounding of wealth inequality with climate inequality: the poorest half accounts for approximately 3% of carbon emissions generated by private capital, while the richest 10% account for about 77%.
A proposed global 3% tax on fewer than 100,000 centimillionaires and billionaires could potentially raise around $750 billion annually to fund education in low- and middle-income countries. The report, produced with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), includes calls from economist Joseph Stiglitz for an IPCC-like international panel dedicated to tracking inequality globally.
