Extreme Inequality as a Threat to Democracy

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/pq.v22i1.10510

Abstract

Globally, income and wealth inequality are reaching staggering levels. According to the authoritative World Inequality Report 2026 (Chancel et al., 2025), the combined earnings of the top 10% of humanity are around seven times those of the bottom 50%. Wealth inequality is even more pronounced: the top 10% enjoy almost 40 times the wealth of the bottom 50%.

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Published

2026-02-23

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 1 (2026): Policy Quarterly

Section

Editorial

License

Permission: In the interest of promoting debate and wider dissemination, the IGPS encourages use of all or part of the articles appearing in PQ, where there is no element of commercial gain. Appropriate acknowledgement of both author and source should be made in all cases. Please direct requests for permission to reprint articles from this publication to Policy-Quarterly@vuw.ac.nz.