Decadal measures of global wealth inequality (Gini, Theil) across 1960–2020

  1. Gini and Theil become standard inequality tools

    Labels: Gini coefficient, Theil index

    By the early 1960s, researchers increasingly relied on summary indices to compare inequality across countries and over time. Two common measures were the Gini coefficient (0 = perfect equality; 1 = one person holds everything) and the Theil index (an “entropy” measure where higher values mean more inequality). These measures helped set the stage for later attempts to build long-run, cross-country wealth-inequality series.

  2. 1960 benchmark: high global wealth concentration

    Labels: 1960 benchmark, Global wealth

    A global benchmark for wealth inequality around 1960 indicates very high concentration, with the world average wealth Gini estimated at about 0.75 in a long-run reconstruction. This point is often used as an early reference for comparing later decades as more data become available. Because wealth is harder to measure than income, early global estimates rely on limited country coverage and harmonization methods.

  3. 1970 benchmark: global wealth inequality remains elevated

    Labels: 1970 benchmark, Global wealth

    For 1970, reconstructed global wealth inequality remains very high, with the world average wealth Gini estimated near 0.74. This suggests that, at a global scale, wealth remained strongly concentrated even as many economies experienced postwar growth. Analysts also emphasize that country-level wealth data were still sparse in many regions, limiting precision.

  4. 1980 benchmark: slight dip in global wealth Gini

    Labels: 1980 benchmark, Western Europe

    Around 1980, the reconstructed world average wealth Gini falls slightly to about 0.71. In the same OECD reconstruction, Western Europe appears to have lower wealth-inequality levels than earlier decades, while other regions remain highly unequal. This decade is often treated as a turning point in narratives about later increases in wealth concentration.

  5. 1990 benchmark: global wealth Gini near 0.70

    Labels: 1990 benchmark, OECD series

    For 1990, the estimated world average wealth Gini is about 0.70, continuing the gradual decline seen in the OECD long-run series. This is often interpreted as the tail end of a long postwar-era reduction in wealth inequality within several high-income economies. However, coverage differences across decades mean comparisons must be made cautiously.

  6. 2000 benchmark: global wealth Gini edges up

    Labels: 2000 benchmark, OECD series

    By 2000, the OECD reconstruction shows the world average wealth Gini rising to about 0.71, signaling a pause or reversal of earlier declines. This change aligns with broader research narratives that wealth inequality began rising in many (though not all) countries from the late 20th century onward. The causes discussed in the literature include asset-price growth and shifts in institutions and policies affecting saving and ownership.

  7. 2010 benchmark: global wealth Gini returns to ~0.72

    Labels: 2010 benchmark, Global wealth

    For 2010, the same long-run source estimates a world average wealth Gini of about 0.72, indicating very high global wealth concentration. Regional averages diverge: some regions remain below the world average while others exceed it by a wide margin. This decade also marks improved data availability and greater use of combined sources (surveys, national accounts, and rich lists) in wealth measurement.

  8. 2018: WID expands access to Gini series

    Labels: WID world, Gini series

    On 2018-02-28, WID.world announced that it would provide Gini coefficients across thousands of inequality series, responding to user demand for a simple, comparable summary metric. WID also cautioned that Ginis can hide important distribution changes and data weaknesses, encouraging users to examine complementary indicators (like top shares). This expansion made decadal and cross-country comparisons easier to reproduce.

  9. Late 2010s: Wealth databooks widen country coverage

    Labels: Wealth databooks, Global coverage

    By the late 2010s, commercial and academic compilations (often called global wealth databooks/reports) were widely used to compare wealth distribution across many economies. These efforts helped fill gaps where household wealth surveys were missing or inconsistent, though measurement differences remained important (for example, treatment of housing, pensions, and debt). Such datasets became a common input for tracking global wealth inequality alongside academic databases.

  10. 2020: The COVID-era snapshot complicates comparisons

    Labels: COVID-19, 2020 snapshot

    By 2020, major shocks—including the COVID-19 pandemic and large asset-price swings—made it harder to compare wealth inequality over time without careful methods. Because wealth is strongly affected by housing and stock prices, short-term changes can reflect market movements as much as longer-run structural shifts. This raised the importance of transparent definitions and consistent measurement when updating decadal series into 2020.

  11. Decadal 1960–2020 series remain data-limited and method-dependent

    Labels: Decadal series, Harmonization

    Across 1960–2020, producing decadal global wealth inequality measures (Gini, Theil) requires combining uneven sources and making harmonization choices. Authoritative reconstructions show very high global wealth Ginis in each benchmark decade through 2010, but a fully consistent, widely accepted global 2020 wealth Gini/Theil estimate is harder to standardize because methods and coverage differ. The main outcome is that researchers increasingly treat decadal indicators as best estimates with uncertainty, and place them alongside top-share measures to understand what changed.

  12. Theil index highlighted for decomposing inequality drivers

    Labels: Theil index, Decomposition

    As inequality research expanded, the Theil index remained important because it can be decomposed into “within-group” and “between-group” components (for example, within vs. between countries). That property is useful for separating whether global inequality is driven more by differences across countries or by inequality inside countries. This analytic approach complements the Gini, which is widely understood but less directly decomposable.

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Last Updated:Jan 1, 1980
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Decadal measures of global wealth inequality (Gini, Theil) across 1960–2020