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Inequality is a rising global concern, Pew survey finds

24 January 2025

Alamy

The office block of a stock-investment company is seen in the background of a Buenos Aires slum, in 2023

The office block of a stock-investment company is seen in the background of a Buenos Aires slum, in 2023

GLOBAL concern about the gap between rich and poor is growing, a new survey suggests. More than eight in ten respondents agreed that levels of inequality in their country were a serious problem, and blamed excessive political power held by the rich.

The influence of the rich on politics was seen as a significant driver of economic inequality in 31 out of the 36 nations surveyed by Pew Research. Left-leaning survey respondents were likelier to hold this view, though “many” on the Right agreed, the report says.

“Overall, more than eight in ten adults say that rich people having too much influence over politics contributes to economic inequality.”

The research, based on a survey of 45,103 adults, also identified an ideological split over whether inequality was a big problem. Respondents who identified as on the Left were more likely to say that it was; the split was widest in the United States, where 76 per cent of liberals held this view, but only 30 per cent on the Right. The survey also found this view more prevalent among lower-income repondents.

Concerns about economic inequality were widespread after the 2008 global financial crisis. Pew said that the survey showed that these concerns remained.

Unequal access to, and problems in, education and problems, as well as inherited privilege, were also ranked highly as contributing to economic inequality.

The survey was conducted in the spring of 2024, before the ousting of governments in several of the countries’ general elections was attributed to economic concerns.

People in 18 middle-income and 18 high-income countries were surveyed. Those in middle-income countries were more likely to see economic inequality — and gender and racial inequality — as serious problems in their country.

In the UK, 59 per cent of those surveyed rated economic inequality as a serious issue. This was an increase on a 2013 survey. In Argentina, Kenya, and South Africa, seven out of ten, or more, rated it as a serious concern. Only a few in each country rated it as not a problem.

Most respondents — 57 per cent — expected their children to be worse off than themselves. This view was particularly prevalent in higher-income nations, including the UK, the US, France, Australia, and Canada. Younger and older adults both shared this pessimistic view of the future. A more optimistic view was held by respondents in a few South Asian, South-East Asian, and Latin American nations, among them Bangladesh, India, Brazil, and Mexico.

The study sought to examine global perceptions of inequality and discrimination, focusing on economy, race, or ethnicity, and discrimination based on religion.

Researchers found that there was less concern about religious discrimination than other factors, although 56 per cent said that discrimination against people on the basis of their religion was a very big or a moderately big problem.

Half or more in Bangladesh, France, India, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka believed that it was a major issue, compared with 27 per cent in the UK. Those to whom religion was important were more likely to say that discrimination was a very big issue.

Two-thirds of respondents rated racial and ethnic discrimination highly as driving inequality; 60 per cent also rated gender inequality as a big problem.

Pew said that the survey also showed that there were “deep global anxieties about the economic future and a strong desire for economic reform”.

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