The ‘Rich’ and ‘Poor’: The Widening Income and Development Gap Between Rich and Poor Nations Worldwide

Abstract

Wealth inequalities both within and between nations has reached an extreme point and is continuing to increase (Collier P. The bottom billion: why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it. Oxford University Press, New York, 2007; Henneberg S, The wealth gaps. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Publishing, 2017). Today, approximately 8% of the world’s population owns approximately 85% of the world’s wealth, much of it held just by the upper 1% of the global population, whereas the “bottom” 92% of the world’s population hold somewhat less than 15% of global wealth (Burton J, 25 Highest income earning countries. World Atlas; Economics, April 25. Retrieved March 23, 2018 from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-highest-incomes-in-the-world.html, 2017a; Countries with the lowest income in the world. World Atlas: Economics, April 25. Retrieved March 23, 2018 from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-lowest-income-in-the-world.html, 2017b; Frank RH, Falling behind: how rising inequality harms the middle class. University of California Press, Berkeley 2007; Piketty T, Capital in the twenty-first century (A. Goldhammer, Trans.). Belknap Press, Cambridge, 2017). Further, contemporary trends in the global wealth patterns contribute to a high sense of subjective ill-being among large segments of the global population, even within economically advanced countries (Clark A, Senik C, Happiness and economic growth: lessons from developing countries. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2017; Helliwell J, Layard R, Sachs J, World happiness report, 2017. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, New York, 2017). The present scenario can be improved upon however, but it will require a more equitable flow of net national wealth to a larger share of the world’s national and global populations (Estes RJ, Sirgy MJ, Chapter 20: Well-being from a global perspective. In R. J. Estes & M. J. Sirgy (Eds.), The pursuit of well-being: the untold global history. Springer, Cham, 2017b; Graham C Happiness around the world: the paradox of happy peasants and miserable millionaires. Oxford University Press, New York, 2012; Stiglitz JE, The price of inequality: how today’s divided society endangers our future. W.W. Norton Books, New York, 2013).