Context: The top one per cent of the population in India owns more than one-fifth of the total national income in 2021 while the bottom half earns just 13.1 per cent, said the World Inequality Report. 
About the Report

• This report was authored by Lucas Chancel, who is the co-director of World Inequality Lab.
• It was coordinated by famed French economist Thomas Piketty.

Key Findings of the report

• Report notes that, top 1 % of the India’s population owns more than one-fifth of the total national income in 2021.
• The bottom half of the population earns just 13.1 per cent.
• It highlights that, economic reforms and liberalization that India has adopted, have mostly benefited the top 1 percent.
• Report identifies India as a poor and an unequal country, with an affluent elite.
• 1 percent richest people in India hold 22% of the total national income in 2021, while the top 10 % owns 57 per cent of the income.
• Average national income of the Indian adult population is Rs 204,200 in 2021, on the basis of purchasing power parity.
• However, report clarified that average national income of a country masks inequalities.

Income Gap

• When it comes to the BRICS nations, South Africa and Brazil have wider income inequalities than India. 
• The income gap between the 10 ten per cent and the bottom 50 per cent stood at one to 63 in South Africa and one to 29 in Brazil. In both China and Russia, it was one to 14.
• The ratio in the richest nation, the US, is 1 to 17.
• When it comes to the world, the richest ten of the global population currently take 52 per cent of global income, whereas the poorest half of the population earns 8.5 per cent of it
• In India: The income gap between top 10 percent and bottom 50 percent in India is 1 to 22 in 2021. The report noted India as one of the most unequal countries worldwide.

Inequality in British India

• Inequality in India has widened as compared to British rule. Report finds that, Indian income inequality was very high under British colonial rule, during 1858-1947. Top ten per cent of the population shared around 50 per cent of the national income.

Level of Gender inequalities

• These are very high. The female labour income share is equal to 18 per cent, significantly lower than the average in Asia, excluding China, at 21 per cent.
• "This value is one of the lowest in the world, slightly higher than the average share in West Asia at 15 per cent. The significant increase, eight percentage points, observed since 1990 has been insufficient to lift women’s labour income share to the regional average," the report said.

Level of Carbon inequality

• India is a low carbon emitter. The average per capita consumption of greenhouse gas is equal to just over 2 CO2e. These levels are typically comparable with carbon footprints in sub-Saharan African countries. The bottom 50 per cent consume one, the middle 40 per cent 2 and the top ten per cent, 9 CO2e/capita.
• A person in the bottom 50 per cent of the population in India is responsible for, on average, five times fewer emissions than the average person in the bottom 50 per cent in the European Union and 10 times fewer than the average person in the bottom 50 per cent in the US.