Brazil is the 5th most unequal country, according to a Piketty study – 09/12/2025 – Market

Brazil ranks fifth out of 216 countries in a new global report on income inequality.

The 10% of Brazilians at the top of the per capita income pyramid capture 59.1% of national income, while the poorest half receives only 9.3%. The country appears behind South Africa, Colombia, Mexico and Chile.

When it comes to wealth concentration, which includes financial assets and other assets, such as real estate and investments, Brazil ranks sixth. The richest 10% own 70% of the total, and the richest 1% own more than a third.

The data appears in the third edition of the Global Inequality Report, produced by the World Inequality Lab network, based at the Paris School of Economics, which includes more than 200 researchers from all continents led by the team of economist Thomas Piketty. The Frenchman is the author of bestsellers on the subject, including “Capital in the 21st Century” (2013).

When it comes to wealth, according to the 206-page document, the 0.001%, which represents 56,000 people worldwide, hold three times as much wealth as the entire poorest adult half of the planet combined (2.8 billion people).

Taking into account the richest 10% of the population, they take over 75% of the world’s wealth, while the poorest half only gets 2%.

Since the 1990s, the wealth of billionaires and centimillionaires (net worth over $100 million) has grown at a rate of about 8% per year, nearly double the rate experienced by the poorest half of the population.

“The result is a world in which a small minority wields unprecedented financial power, while billions remain excluded from even the most basic economic stability,” the report says. In almost every region of the world, the richest 1% alone hold more wealth than the poorest 90% combined.

The report also highlights that the global financial system works largely in favor of rich countries. What was once described as America’s “exorbitant privilege” – borrowing cheaply thanks to the dollar’s role as a reserve currency, while investing abroad to earn higher returns – has become a systemic advantage enjoyed by advanced economies.

Globally, approximately 1% of global GDP flows from poorer to richer countries each year through net income transfers associated with income and investment. This is almost three times the value of global aid to developing countries.

Following Piketty’s methodology in the book “Capital of the 21st Century”, the study includes in the notion of income both labor income and payments from social security systems. Income is measured before taxes are applied.

Data from different countries is equalized by the concept of purchasing power parity, which adjusts the value of the currency to the local cost of living, rather than the market exchange rate.

In the case of assets, it is defined as the sum of financial assets (shares, public bonds) and non-financial assets owned (properties, company shares), less debts.

Data are obtained from official sources such as tax records, household surveys and countries’ systems of national accounts, which provide standardized definitions of income and wealth.

The study uses the T10/B50 ratio: how many times the average income of the richest 10% (richest) is greater than the average income of the poorest 50% (poorest). Thus, a country with 55% of income concentrated at the top will not necessarily be more unequal than a country with 50%.

Evaluating public policies in several countries, the authors argue that more progressive taxation (taxing more on those who earn and have more) and income distribution programs (such as Bolsa Família) are instruments to alleviate income concentration.

According to the report, the very rich now pay proportionately less taxes than those who earn or have less, and billionaires find many loopholes to stop paying taxes or migrate to regions with lower tax burdens.

In this third edition, the Global Inequality Report devotes a few pages to the climate crisis. According to the document, the poorest half of the world’s population is responsible for only 3% of carbon emissions associated with private property (ownership in businesses), while the richest 10% are responsible for 77% of emissions.

The richest 1% alone are responsible for 41% of private equity emissions, almost double the combined emissions of all of the poorest 90%.

“Those who emit the least, largely populations in low-income countries, are also the most exposed to climate impacts. Meanwhile, the most polluting are protected, with resources to adapt or avoid the consequences of climate change,” the document says.