- The ‘Extraordinary Committee’ of independent experts – appointed by President Ramaphosa – submits the G20’s first-ever report on global inequality today
- The Committee above all urges the creation of a new ‘International Panel on Inequality’ to inform policymaking internationally and by governments – inspired by the IPCC
- New analysis published in the report shows that between 2000 and 2024, the world’s top 1% captured 41% of all new wealth, while just 1% went to the bottom 50%, amid growing concerns about democratic capture associated with wealth concentration
The “Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality” – commissioned by President Cyril Ramaphosa for South Africa’s Presidency of the G20 – today unveiled the first-ever report on inequality to the G20. The Committee is chaired by Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz and joined by five other leading global experts. The report follows consultation with leading economists and inequality experts across the world.
The Committee’s key recommendation is the creation of a new international and independent panel – inspired by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – that would monitor trends and assess its drivers and consequences and evaluate alternative policies for addressing it, to inform governments, policy makers, and the international community.
Their report offers a snapshot of the forces giving rise to inequality and the state of inequality. It comes amid heightening concern about ‘the global increase in incomes and wealth at the upper end of the scale’ and the increasing challenges large parts of the population face in making ends meet. In analyzing policies that could help to alleviate inequality, the report focuses particularly at the international level, including to rein in corporate concentration and efforts to reform the international tax architecture that are already on the G20 agenda .
The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa:
“This report, which is a blueprint for greater equality, supports the goal of South Africa’s G20 Presidency to put inequality on the international agenda. Inequality is a betrayal of people’s dignity, an impediment to inclusive growth and a threat to democracy itself. Addressing inequality is our inescapable generational challenge. This report lays out prudent and pragmatic steps we can take to reduce it.
“I congratulate Professor Stiglitz and his Extraordinary Committee of such renowned experts for this effort. I am looking forward to discussing this report at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg.”
Professor Joseph Stiglitz (USA), Nobel laureate in economics:
“It is an honor for us to present this report to President Ramaphosa, and to the G20. The available evidence on inequality should concern leaders everywhere. The world understands that we have a climate emergency; it’s time we recognize that we face an inequality emergency too. It isn’t just unfair and undermining societal cohesion – it’s a problem for our economy and our politics too. Our committee felt strongly that some of the worst effects of inequality are on democracy.
“The Committee’s work showed us that inequality is a crisis in need of concerted action. The necessary step to taking this action is for policymakers, political leaders, the private sector, journalists and academia to have accurate and timely information and analysis of the inequality crisis. This is why our recommendation above all is for a new International Panel on Inequality. It would learn from the remarkable job the IPCC has done for climate change, bringing together technical expertise worldwide to track inequality and assess what is driving it”.
The report reviews and compares the latest data on the state of inequality, revealing:
- 83% of all countries, accounting for 90% of the world’s population, meet the World Bank’s definition of high inequality. Countries with high inequality are seven times more likely to experience democratic decline than more equal countries.
- The richest 1% captured 41% of new wealth since the year 2000, while the bottom 50% of humanity have increased their wealth by just 1%, using data from the World Inequality Lab. This means that the richest 1% have seen their average wealth rise by US$1.3m, while the bottom 50% have seen their wealth rise by just US$585 over the same period, in constant 2024 dollars.
- Inequality between all individuals in the world has fallen in recent decades largely due to income growth in China, but the prospects for further reductions are uncertain. The overall income gap between Global North and Global South countries remains very high.
- New data on the major increase in inherited wealth shows $70 trillion of wealth is expected to be handed down to heirs over the coming ten years, a major challenge to social mobility, fairness and equality of opportunity.
The Committee highlights how inequality, particularly in the extremes, has many negative economic, political and societal outcomes, each interacting with the other in ways that exacerbate the adverse effects. High wealth inequality in particular undermines both democracy and economic progress. Recent events since 2020, including COVID-19, the Ukraine war and new tariffs and trade disputes since the beginning of 2025 are creating a ‘perfect storm’ which is further increasing poverty and inequality. One in four people worldwide now regularly skip meals, whilst billionaire wealth has now hit the highest level in history.
The Report highlights how different policies could help to reduce inequality at the national and international levels, and notes the role that the G20 can play in facilitating global coordination:
- Reforming international economic rules – redesigning intellectual property rules (especially relating to pandemics and climate change), rewriting tax rules to ensure fair taxation of multinationals and the ultra-wealthy (noting the UN Tax Convention).
- National action – that can include exploring the roles of pro-worker regulation, reducing corporate concentration, taxing large capital gains, investing in public services, and more progressive tax and expenditure policies.
- New models for cooperation – especially given current geopolitical volatility, exploring new efforts between countries, for instance on taxes, trade and the green transition.
The Committee’s priority proposal for an IPI would be a ‘permanent legacy of the South African Presidency of the G20’. The technical body, centred on data and policy-relevant analysis, would be backed by ‘champion countries, with multilateral agencies as key stakeholders’.
The six independent experts are Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz (USA); Dr Adriana E. Abdenur (Brazil); Ms Winnie Byanyima (Uganda); Professor Jayati Ghosh (India); Professor Imraan Valodia (South Africa); and Dr Wanga Zembe-Mkabile (South Africa).
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Experts
Professor Joseph Stiglitz (USA): a Nobel laureate in economics, university professor at Columbia University and chief economist of the Roosevelt Institute.
Dr Adriana E. Abdenur (Brazil): a Brazilian social scientist, former Special Advisor in International Affairs in the office of President Lula of Brazil, co-founder of the Brazilian think tank Plataforma CIPÓ, and current co-President of the Global Fund for a New Economy (GFNE).
Ms Winnie Byanyima (Uganda): Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, Convenor of the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics, and co-founder and co-chair of the People’s Medicines Alliance
Professor Jayati Ghosh (India): Professor, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Co-Chair, International Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation
Professor Imraan Valodia (South Africa): Professor of Economics, Pro Vice-Chancellor: Climate, Sustainability and Inequality, and Director of the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand (WITS)
Dr Wanga Zembe-Mkabile (South Africa): Professor at the UWC School of Public Health and Senior Specialist Scientist of the South African Medical Research Council.
Notes to editors
The President of South Africa will host a launch of the G20 Extraordinary Committee’s report in South Africa on 4 November 2025. At the South Africa 2025 Joburg Summit, the Extraordinary Committee has been formally invited to present the report to the G20’s Leaders Meeting.
The G20 “Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality” is – as part of the G20 Sherpa Track – a special project located in the G20 Sherpa’s Office, in the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) of South Africa.
The G20 comprises 19 countries including: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom, and United States and two regional bodies, namely the European Union and the African Union.