World Inequality Lab

Money Moves

As of May 2026: Maintains World Inequality Database

For two centuries starting in 1820, global inequality widened until the 1980s, then began falling — the first reversal since the Industrial Revolution. The global Gini coefficient dropped from 70 points in 1990 to 62 by 2019, driven almost entirely by rapid income growth in China, India, and other populous developing nations.

Updated May 22