Income and wealth inequality
What is income?
Income is generally understood to cover a person鈥檚 earnings. This could come from the following:
- wages from employment
- dividends from shares and stocks
- pension payments etc
What is wealth?
Wealth includes income but also the total value of a person鈥檚 assets, eg:
- housing or other property
- personal possessions, such as artwork or jewellery
- money in the bank
- the value of stocks and shares, etc
How have income and wealth inequalities changed?
For several years income and wealth inequalities have been widening in the UK. From research undertaken by Oxfam in 2022, the richest 1% of people in the UK have more wealth than 70% of the rest of the UK population put together, while the four richest British people alone, have more wealth than 20 million people. (Source: Oxfam)
In Scotland there are also wide income and wealth inequalities. In 2022, Oxfam reported that the richest 10% of Scots had 217 times more than the most deprived 10% of Scots.
Trends in income and wealth inequality
- In the 1980s the income of the wealthiest 10 per cent of people in the UK was eight times that of the poorest 10 per cent. (Source: OECD)
- By 2011, the incomes of the wealthiest 10 per cent had grown to 12 times that of the poorest 10 per cent. (Source: OECD)
- By 2016, the richest 10% of households had 44% of all wealth, whereas the poorest 50% own just 9% (Source: Equality Trust)
- By the end of 2021, the top 20% of people took home 36% of the total income compared to the bottom 20% which took home only 8%. Put another way, the top 20% had a disposable income of 拢83,867 whereas the bottom 20%, had a disposable income of 拢13,218. (Source: Equality Trust)
- Wealth in the UK is more unequally shared out than income. In 2020, the wealthiest 10% held 43% of all the wealth, with the poorest 50% having just 9% of the total wealth. (Source: Office for National Statistics)