The World Inequality Report 2022 estimates that the richest 1 % of adults owned about 38 % of global net household wealth in 2021; the other 99 % held the remaining 62 %. This is a stock of wealth—not income—and is distinct from the report's separate statistic that the top 1 % captured 38 % of additional wealth created since 1995. Per adult, the two shares imply a factor of about 60.
Data as of: Wealth shares: 2021 · report published 2022
Sources: World Inequality Report 2022
Millions, billions, trillions – they all sound the same. Here you see them side by side, to scale and with sources.
Mass of Earth vs. Mass of the Sun · 1 : 333,000
Median U.S. family wealth vs. Elon Musk's wealth · 1 : 5.08 million
Damage from welfare fraud vs. Damage from tax evasion · 1 : 380
Earth's diameter vs. Diameter of the observable universe · 1 : 69 quintillion
A long human life vs. Age of the universe · 1 : 170 million
Wealth of the other 99 % vs. Wealth of the richest 1 %
Calculated remaining area vs. Land for animal feed
Annual per-person CO₂ in Niger vs. CO₂ of an illustrative 7.5-hour private-jet flight · 1 : 125
Birds killed by wind turbines vs. Birds killed by cats
Wild birds and mammals together vs. All ants · 1 : 1.3
Wild mammals vs. Livestock
Grains of sand on Earth vs. Stars in the universe · 1 : 10,000
Modeled investment against hunger vs. U.S. pet spending · 1 : 4.79
Annualized garment minimum wage vs. Ortega's dividends per year · 1 : 2.63 million
Wealth of the poorest 50 % vs. Wealth of the richest 1 %
CO₂ of the poorest 50 % vs. CO₂ of the richest 1 %
CO₂ per person in India vs. CO₂ per person in the USA · 1 : 6.5
Millions, billions, trillions: beyond a certain size, all numbers sound the same. SeeTheScale turns them into comparisons you can picture – such as the wealth of the richest against an average household, CO₂ per person in the biggest emitting countries or the age of the universe against a human life.
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SeeTheScale is a free website that makes unimaginably large numbers tangible: two values are shown as stacks of bills, a football field, seconds or bubbles side by side, so the difference is visible at a glance.
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The values are rounded. What matters is the order of magnitude: whether something is ten, a thousand or a million times as large.
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