The world must fight inequality to safeguard ideals of democracy

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fire that is closest to us. But it is equally crucial to understand and address the root causes so that we have fewer fires to fight. As populist forces have polarized electorates and deepening social divides worldwide, the global political climate has grown increasingly volatile.

While determining the causes of this shift will undoubtedly take some time, one could argue that the rapid advance of digital technologies, unchecked globalization and rising inequality have transformed our political and economic systems, fuelling sociopolitical unrest. While the debate over whether economic inequality has increased over the past few decades is still on, the question is moot. We know for certain that global economic inequality increased steadily between 1820 and 1910.

Since then, it has fluctuated, and any estimate depends on the specific methods and metrics researchers use. But the data clearly show that economic disparities have reached intolerable levels, with the world’s richest 1% gaining 38% of the increase in global wealth between 1995 and 2021, compared to just 2% for the bottom 50%. Moreover, it is undeniable that the concentration of wealth continues to increase.

Between 1995 and 2021, global wealth grew by 3.2% annually. Over the same period, the richest 0.000001% increased their wealth by 9.3% per year. When future generations look back at today’s world, they will likely be shocked by the extreme levels of inequality and social injustice we tolerated, just as we are horrified by our ancestors’ acceptance of practices like slavery and feudalism.