Indias richest 1% grew wealth by 62% since 2000: G20 inequality report

new delhi: india's wealthiest 1 per cent have expanded their wealth by 62 per cent between 2000 and 2023, according to a landmark g20-commissioned report led by nobel laureate joseph stiglitz.the study, prepared for the south african presidency of the g20, warns that global inequality has reached “emergency levels,” posing risks to democracy, economic stability, and climate action.the g20 extraordinary committee of independent experts on global inequality — which includes economists jayati ghosh, winnie byanyima, and imraan valodia — found that the world's top 1 per cent captured 41 per cent of all new wealth created between 2000 and 2024, while the bottom half received just 1 per cent.while overall inter-country inequality has declined due to rising per capita incomes in populous nations like india and china, the report said within-country inequality has sharply increased. it noted that in china, the top 1 per cent saw their wealth grow by 54 per cent during the same period.“extreme inequality is a choice. it is not inevitable and can be reversed with political will,” the report said, urging global coordination and calling for the establishment of an international panel on inequality (ipi) — modelled after the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) — to track inequality trends and guide policymaking.countries with higher inequality, the report added, are seven times more likely to face democratic decline. it also warned that global poverty reduction has nearly stalled since 2020, with 2.3 billion people facing food insecurity and 1.3 billion impoverished by health expenses.