AS per new OECD Report, the gap between the rich and the poor in OECD
countries has reached its highest level in last 30 years, and governments must
act quickly to tackle inequality.
“Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps
Rising” finds that the average income of the richest 10% is now about nine times
that of the poorest 10 % across the OECD.
The income gap has risen even
in traditionally egalitarian countries, such as Germany, Denmark and Sweden,
from 5 to 1 in the 1980s to 6 to 1 today. The gap is 10 to 1 in Italy, Japan,
Korea and the United Kingdom, and higher still, at 14 to 1 in Israel, Turkey and
the United States.
In Chile and Mexico, the incomes of the richest are
still more than 25 times those of the poorest, the highest in the OECD, but this
gap has finally started dropping.
Income inequality is much higher in
some major emerging economies outside the OECD area. At 50 to 1, Brazil's income
gap remains much higher than in many other countries, although it has been
falling significantly over the past decade.
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