The top 0.001 per cent holds three times more wealth than poorest half of humanity, according to the World Inequality Report.
The report, compiled by more than 200 researchers led by world-renowned economist Thomas Piketty, found that the disparity was reflected across wealth and income.
The richest tenth of the world’s population now owns close to 75 per cent of all wealth, while the poorest half holds barely 2 per cent.
Income is split in a similar way. The top 10 per cent earn more than the remaining 90 per cent combined, while the poorest half capture less than 10 per cent of global income.
According to the research, a gender pay gap “persists across all regions,” with women capturing just over 25 per cent of global labour income, a share that has barely moved since 1990.
Poorer countries are squeezed by a global financial system tilted toward rich states, the study showed.
“We live in a system where resources extracted from labour and nature in low-income countries continue to sustain the prosperity and the unsustainable lifestyle of people in high-income economies and the rich elites across countries. These patterns are not accidents of markets. They reflect the legacy of history and the functioning of institutions, regulations and policies,” said Jayati Ghosh, an Indian economist and contributor to the report.