NEW DELHI — India has emerged as a poor and “very unequal” country, according to the latest report released by the World Inequality Lab. The bottom half of the Indian population owns “almost nothing” of the national wealth, claimed the report authored by senior economists including France’s Thomas Piketty.
In 2021, the top one percent of the country’s population earned more than one-fifth of the ‘total national income’, it said, while noting that the bottom half’s share in the same was only 13 percent.
“The average national income of the Indian adult population is 7,400 Euro or Rs 204,200. While the bottom 50 percent earns 2,000 Euro or Rs 53,610, the top 10 percent earns more than 20 times more (42 500 Euro or Rs 1,166,520),” the report said.
While the top 10 percent and top 1 percent of the population hold 57 percent and 22 percent of total national income, respectively, the bottom half’s “share has gone down to 13 percent”, it said, further adding, “India stands out as a poor and very unequal country, with an affluent elite.”
The average household wealth in India is equal to 35,000 Euro or Rs 983,010, as per the data shared by the World Inequality Lab. “The bottom 50 percent own almost nothing, with an average wealth of 4,200 Euro or Rs 66,280),” the report said.
The middle class is also relatively poor, with an average wealth of only 26,400 Euro or Rs 723,930, it said. This constitutes 29.5 percent of the total wealth.
The top 10 percent of the population owns over 231,300 Euros or Rs 6,354,070 (33 percent of the total wealth) and the top one percent owns a massive 6.1 million Euros or Rs 32,449,360 (65 percent of total wealth), the report claimed.
“Gender inequalities in India are very high,” the World Inequality Lab said, claiming that the female labour income share is equal to 18 percent. This is significantly lower than the average in Asia, which is 21 percent (excluding China), and is only marginally higher than the Middle East where the female share in labour income is 15 percent.
In terms of carbon emission, a person in the bottom 50 percent of the population in India is responsible for, on average, “five times fewer emissions” than the average person in the bottom 50 percent in Europe and 10 times fewer than the average person in the bottom 50 percent in the US, the report said.
“India is a low carbon emitter: the average per capita consumption of greenhouse gas is equal to just over 2 tCO2e. These levels are typically comparable with carbon footprints in sub-Saharan African countries. The bottom 50 percent, middle 40 percent and top 10 percent respectively consume 1, 2, and 9 tCO2e/capita,” it noted.