Inequalities around the globe: What is perceived as most serious?
Most people believe that inequalities in income and wealth are among the most serious types of inequality affecting their country. Yet, other types of inequalities also seem to worry us. Here, we present a few important insights about the perception of inequality around the globe from our report made in partnership with Kings College London’s Policy Institute across 28 countries.
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In this online study, we found that
60% believe inequalities in income and wealth are among the most serious types of inequality affecting their country.
This highlights that views around inequality are still rooted in wealth and income. However, geographical inequalities, e.g. between more and less deprived areas, come second as 42% are saying that geographical inequality is one of the most serious forms of inequality. In addition, three in ten thinks that gender and racial/ethnic inequalities are among the most serious. This is despite cultural movements highlighting the issues in both areas have achieved global prominence in recent years.
- Income inequality is considered relatively less serious in Saudi Arabia, Poland and Sweden, but are highest in Russia, South Korea and Hungary.
- Over 45% of those from high-income households believe that geographical inequality is one of the most serious types of inequality in their country, compared to 37% of low-income households.
Still, the study found a difference in perception between men and women.
36% of women, compared to 26% of men, believe that gender inequality was one of the three or four most serious types of inequality in their country. This only highlights the results from a previous survey where we found that gender inequality is seen as a more pressing issue for women than for men – especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Even though some countries – such as Spain, Sweden, France and Germany – rank highly on objective measures of gender equality they still have greater levels of concern about this issue than other nations that fare worse on this type of inequality.
- By contrast, Turkey is ranked 130th for equality between men and women – one of the worst countries in the world by this measure – yet people there are among the most concerned about this issue.
Other inequalities:
- Around three in 10 (29%) believe inequalities between racial or ethnic groups is one of the most serious forms of inequality in their country
- This is much higher than average in South Africa (65%) and the United States. In contrast, concern on this measure is much lower in South Korea (8%), Argentina (9%) and Japan (10%).
- Inequality between older generations and younger generations is seen as the relatively least important form of inequality across the 28 countries with just a quarter (24%) saying it was one of the most serious types of inequality in their country.
