Fewer than 60,000 people – 0.001% of the world’s population – control three times as much wealth as the entire bottom half of humanity, according to a report that argues global inequality has reached such extremes that urgent action has become essential.
The authoritative World Inequality Report 2026, based on data compiled by 200 researchers, also found that the top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90% combined, while the poorest half captures less than 10% of total global earnings.
Wealth – the value of people’s assets – was even more concentrated than income, or earnings from work and investments, the report found, with the richest 10% of the world’s population owning 75% of wealth and the bottom half just 2%.
In almost every region, the top 1% was wealthier than the bottom 90% combined, the report found, with wealth inequality increasing rapidly around the world.
“The result is a world in which a tiny minority commands unprecedented financial power, while billions remain excluded from even basic economic stability,” the authors, led by Ricardo Gómez-Carrera of the Paris School of Economics, wrote.
That isn’t the doctor who does that. It’s the insurance companies.
Sadly, private practices also do that. I have neighbors who are “noncompliant” because they can sometimes scrape together enough for either a single visit, or meds, usually not both.
We often have to pass around donation envelope to help a neighbor afford a visit and/or prescription, and if more than one is sick at a time, those donations aren’t enough and have to be split.
Private practices have a lot of money to pay for insurance: medical-malpractice insurance, insurance related to the building (fire, storm, robbery, etc.), insurance related to employment, and so on.