India is a poor and very unequal country, according to a report from World Inequality Lab authored by economists such as Lucas Chancel and Thomas Piketty, among others.
“The average national income of Indian adult population is €7,400 while the bottom 50 per cent earns more than €2000 (₹53,610); the top 10 per cent earns more than 20 times more (€42 500 or ₹ 11,66,520),” the report said. While the top 10 per cent and top 1 per cent hold 57 per cent and 22 per cent of total national income respectively, the share of the bottom 50 per cent has gone down to 13 per cent.
The report also states that the quality and inequality data released by the Government is declining, making it difficult to assess recent inequality changes.
Household wealth in India
According to the report, the average household wealth in India is equal to ₹9,83,010. The bottom 50 per cent owns an average wealth of 6 per cent of the total ₹66,280. When it comes to the middle class, they are also relatively poor with an average wealth of ₹7,23,930, which constitutes 29.5 per cent of the total wealth. The top 10 per cent and 1 per cent owns ₹63,54,070 and ₹3,24,49,360 respectively.
India has third highest number of billionaires in the world: Forbes
Gender inequality
The report also highlights that gender inequality is on the rise. In India, the female labour income is equal to 18 per cent which is lower than the average in Asia (21 per cent excluding China). This value is one of the lowest in the world and is slightly higher than the average share in the Middle East (15 per cent).
Report link:
https://wir2022.wid.world/www-site/uploads/2021/12/WorldInequalityReport2022_FullReport.pdf