Inequality

• [New] Hotter temperatures by 2100 could slash global GDP by more than 20%, and the way the economic impact will be distributed threatens to turn climate change into an enormous driver of worldwide inequality.
• [New] 29 million people in Latin America could fall into poverty, reversing a decade of efforts to narrow income inequality.
• The State of Ageing in 2020 is a stark reminder that without urgent action, health and social inequalities will continue to grow among the UK's older people.
• Today in 2050, economies have become regenerative and poverty gaps and inequality have largely disappeared, as well as the ideologies of money and market fundamentalism.
• The global crisis is threatening the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable by increasing poverty, exacerbating inequalities, and damaging long-term economic growth prospects.
• The number of people living in extreme poverty in the SIDS by 2030 could fall by two thirds in the optimistic scenario and by nearly 100% in the poverty miracle scenario.
• The link between productivity and economic growth is weakening and, in many countries, growth is becoming less of a priority relative to issues such as climate change and income inequality.
• SDG 1 is linked to reduced inequalities (SDG 10) as inequality around the world remains high, and poses a serious threat to the world's ability to end poverty by 2030.
• Without concerted action, inequalities, global poverty and the potential for instability and violence could grow for years.
• In trying to bring climate change and health equity together 100% of new UK housing should be carbon neutral by 2030 and for net zero greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring inequalities do not widen as a result.
• The 'poverty miracle' scenario, which relies on the highly ambitious assumptions of 9.7% annual average growth in GDP per capita and 50% reduction in cumulative income inequality, would lower the number of people in extreme poverty from 653 million to 230 million people by 2030, a decline of 65%.
• The World Food Program has warned of a potential doubling of acute food insecurity in low- and middle-income countries this year due to income and remittance losses.
• More than 700 million people live in extreme poverty, on less than $1.90 a day, and The World Bank estimates that an extra 40 million to 60 million people will fall into extreme poverty in 2020, as a result of Covid-19.
• Low social mobility will cost the UK economy £140 billion a year over the period to 2050, amounting to £1.3 trillion in lost GDP over the next 40 years.
• From a global perspective, mandatory human rights due diligence brings opportunities to improve economic productivity, reduce inequalities, and improve livelihoods - all integral to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• The global economy is facing an increased risk of stagnation - all while citizens worldwide protest political and economic conditions and voice concerns about systems that exacerbate inequality.
• Climate change could lead to the reversal of all the progress made in the last 50 years in terms of poverty reduction.
• The past five years have been the warmest on record, cyber-attacks are expected to increase this year and citizens across the world are protesting about political and economic inequality.
• The decline in economic growth in 2020 is expected to increase income inequality and poverty in.
• The education emergency would jeopardise global goals to end poverty and inequality by 2030 and could set back progress on gender equity by years.
• A reduction in income inequality can provide critical momentum toward the global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030.
• Under French leadership the G7 group of the 7 largest advanced economies plus the European Union will focus in 2019 on fighting inequality, including poverty induced by climate change.
• The UN remains committed to the existing timeline of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end global poverty in all its forms and to reduce inequality within every country by 2030.

Last updated: 10 January 2021