Entering 2025, global wealth reached a record $600 trillion. However, much of this growth was driven by rising asset prices rather than new savings or investments. When assets outpace economic growth, inequality deepens. In 2024, the top 1 percent owned at least 20 percent of national wealth across major economies. In the United States, the top 1 percent owned 35 percent, or $16.5 million, while the bottom 50 percent held just $9,000, less than their counterparts in China in terms of purchasing power. Households without assets struggle to build wealth, note Senior Partner Olivia White and coauthors. Their research introduces a “global balance sheet” to gauge whether policies can put economies on the ideal path of productivity acceleration, which could narrow global wealth and financial disparities.
Image description:
A series of area charts illustrates the implied per capita wealth by percentile across 11 major economies, with each chart divided into 4 sections representing different wealth percentiles: the top 1%, the next 9%, the next 40%, and the bottom 50%. The charts show that the US has the highest wealth among the top 1%, at $16.4 million, followed by Australia at $10.6 million. The wealth distribution is similar across most countries, with the top 1% holding the largest share, followed by the next 9%, then the next 40%, and the bottom 50% having the smallest share. Specific values for the bottom 50% include $9,000 in the US, $36,000 in Australia, $30,000 in Canada, $23,000 in Germany, $31,000 in France, $17,000 in Italy, $10,000 in South Korea, $22,000 in Japan and in the UK, $13,000 in China, and $3,000 in Mexico.
Note: This image description was completed with the assistance of Writer, a gen AI tool.
Source: CEIC; China National Bureau of Statistics; European national agencies; Eurostat; Federal Reserve; IHS Markit; OECD; People’s Bank of China; World Inequality Database; McKinsey Global Institute analysis.
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