The richest 1.5 percent of the world’s adults own 48.4 percent of its wealth, about $251 trillion. At the other end, adults with less than $10,000 are 42.1 percent of the world’s population and hold less than 1 percent of the wealth. Those are UBS Global Wealth Report figures for 2025, as cited by Inequality.org.
UBS counts wealth as financial assets plus real assets, mainly housing, minus debts. The “richest 1.5 percent” here means anyone with more than $1 million.
The very top
The 2026 World Inequality Report says the wealthiest 0.001 percent, around 56,000 multi-millionaires, now hold three times as much as the bottom half of humanity. Their share rose from 3.7 percent in 1995 to 6.1 percent in 2025.
Billionaires keep multiplying. UBS counted 924 in the United States in 2025, up from 835 a year earlier, which is nearly a third (31.7 percent) of the global total. To reach the top 1 percent in the US takes at least $5.8 million, according to the Knight Frank Wealth Report. That is 5.4 times the threshold in China and 1.5 times the one in Germany.
The US also leads in how top-heavy its wealth is. The OECD says the top 1 percent holds 40.5 percent of national wealth there. In no other industrial country does the share exceed 27.1 percent.
Income and pay
On income, the World Inequality Report puts the richest 1 percent’s share of global income at 20.3 percent in 2025, up 3.4 points since 1980. The top 0.1 percent took 8.2 percent.
Oxfam and the International Trade Union Confederation found that between 2019 and 2025, workers worldwide saw real wages fall 12 percent, or $2,326. Pay for the 1,500 best-paid CEOs rose 54 percent, to an average of $8.4 million.
Carbon and power
The World Inequality Lab says the poorest half of the world produces 10 percent of carbon emissions but faces 74 percent of climate-related income losses. The richest 10 percent account for close to half of emissions and face 3 percent of the losses.
Voting power at the International Monetary Fund shows a similar skew. The US has 4 percent of the world’s people and nearly 17 percent of IMF votes, enough to veto major decisions. More than 180 developing nations together hold under half.
