What does income inequality look like around the world?
![](https://assets.weforum.org/article/image/large_ewMN1-OzzwRUyG6E3WgLekDRsHKY1nU1n-K-01l04ks.jpg)
![A hand holding a looking glass by a lake](/uplink.jpg)
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:
Future of Work
On July 14, 1789, the French stormed the Bastille, a medieval fortress-prison in Paris in one of the key moments of the French Revolution.
The average people were fed up with the Ancien Régime — aka the monarchy — and they were protesting the vast inequality between themselves and the upper echelon.
Fast forward 266 years: inequality is still a major issue.
“We have reached a tipping point. Inequality in OECD countries is at its highest since records began,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said in a recent report.
Mexico, Chile, the US and Turkey have the highest inequality among the OECD members. And inequality is even higher in emerging economies. On the flip side, Denmark, Slovenia, and Czech Republic have the lowest.
“The evidence shows that high inequality is bad for growth. The case for policy action is as much economic as social. By not addressing inequality, governments are cutting into the social fabric of their countries and hurting their long-term economic growth,” Gurría added.
For what it’s worth, France is below the OECD average.
This article is published in collaboration with Business Insider. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.
To keep up with the Agenda subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Author: Elena Holodny works at Business Insider.
Image: A cup of tea is seen on an office table at the Tregothnan Estate near Truro in Cornwall January 15, 2013. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Economic GrowthSee all
Andrea Willige
August 6, 2024
Omair Ansari and Manahil Javaid
August 6, 2024
Tarini Fernando and Nadia Shamsad
July 18, 2024
Naoko Tochibayashi and Mizuho Ota
July 17, 2024