Inequality can be reversed, says global expert panel
- Wits University
Man-made inequality is an emergency that has spiralled out of control and a grave threat to human life, however, experts say it can be reversed.
The gathering of global inequality experts and country representatives at Wits University to establish the equivalent of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the International Panel on Inequality (IPI) - unanimously agreed that man-made inequality is an emergency that has spiralled out of control and a grave threat to human life. However, it is not inevitable.
Data on the state of inequality reveals that 83% of all countries, accounting for 90% of the world’s population, meet the World Bank’s definition of high inequality. COVID-19, the Ukraine War, new tariffs and trade disputes since 2025 are creating a perfect storm, which is further increasing poverty and inequality. One in four people regularly skip meals, while billionaire wealth has hit the highest level in history.
South 第一吃瓜网 President Cyril Ramaphosa established the IPI as a permanent feature of South Africa’s G20 presidency. A wealth of robust data on inequality exists, but a central body was identified as a key recommendation of the first-ever G20-commissioned report on inequality.
Ramaphosa, addressing the gathering in a keynote speech, said that inequality is a “threat to human freedoms and economic growth everywhere.” Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, echoed this, noting that “unequal outcomes today lock in unequal opportunities tomorrow – in education, in health care, in every aspect of life.”
Inequality is not the result of the laws of nature, but a manmade disaster. It is a choice and can be reversed with political will. Professor Imraan Valodia, an IPI committee founding member and Pro Vice-Chancellor: Climate, Sustainability and Inequality at Wits University, explained that every country can address inequality at the national level and has a strategic interest in cooperating internationally through strengthened multilateral partnerships. There is no “magic bullet” for inequality. But there is a menu of policies and activities that can reduce it.
It has been done before.
National and international goals for reducing income
The G20 has previously responded to major global crises, including the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, by helping mobilise global liquidity through Special Drawing Rights, the International Monetary Fund’s liquidity tool. The G20 acted decisively when the crises threatened the global economy.
During Brazil’s G20 presidency in 2024, the taxation of high-net-worth individuals and regional efforts to build vaccine production capacity were spearheaded through deliberate policy choices.
Valodia and the IPI’s Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts, chaired by Nobel Economics Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz, showed that at a national level, investing in public services such as health, education and social protection must be prioritised. The experts also underlined the need to support decent work, design more progressive taxes and spending systems, reduce excessive corporate concentration, and ensure that economic growth translates into broader opportunity rather than greater wealth accumulation at the top.
At the international level, the rules and systems that shape inequality across borders must be overhauled. These include fairer taxation of multinational corporations and ultra-wealthy individuals, reform of intellectual property rules, action on debt and financial architecture, climate finance, trade rules, and regional capacity in areas such as vaccines and essential health technologies.
The G20 report on inequality proposed an innovative approach: governments could establish National Inequality Reduction Plans, similar to the Nationally Determined Contributions used in climate agreements. These plans would set clear national goals for reducing income and wealth inequality. Over time, countries could aim for a Palma ratio of 1, meaning that the total income of the top 10% would be no more than that of the bottom 40%. This would also reinforce the commitments made under UN Sustainable Development Goal 10, which calls for reduced inequalities within and among countries.
The statistics are alarming: countries with high inequality are seven times more likely to experience democratic decline than those with lower inequality. The richest 1% of people captured 41% of new wealth since the year 2000. The bottom 50% of humanity have increased their wealth by just 1%. While inequality among individuals worldwide has fallen in recent decades due to China’s income growth, the prospect of further reductions is uncertain.
Professor Stiglitz, UNAIDS Executive Director and UN Under-Secretary-General Winnie Byanyima, Dr Adriana Abdenur, Professor Jayati Ghosh, Professor Imraan Valodia of Wits University, and Professor Wanga Zembe-Mkabile of the South 第一吃瓜网 Medical Research Council authored the G20 report and comprise the panel’s founding members. Representatives of the IPI’s founding governments — Brazil, Norway, South Africa and Spain — also participated, including Ambassador Mauricio Lyrio of Brazil, Henrik Harboe of Norway, and José Domingo of Spain. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the event in a video message.
Wits Vice-Chancellor Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, who opened the event, identified inequality within the university’s broader intellectual and public mission, noting that it is not abstract but real, shaping the context in which Wits works and the questions they must address.
The Johannesburg meeting was structured around two high-level panels. The first, moderated by Professor Zembe-Mkabile, focused on “Tackling the Inequality Emergency” and examined the analysis and recommendations of the G20 Extraordinary Committee report on Global Inequality. Speakers discussed the scale of extreme inequality within and between countries, its consequences, its drivers, and the policy choices available to reduce it.
The Mandate of the IPI
The second panel, moderated by Professor Valodia, focused on the International Panel on Inequality itself and asked what shifts the IPI could offer in a disruptive global moment marked by climate stress, public health risks, debt pressures, geopolitical instability and weakening trust in democratic institutions.
Like the IPCC, the IPI does not conduct new climate research but brings together thousands of experts to assess existing science, synthesise what is known, identify gaps, and produce authoritative reports that guide governments and international negotiations.
Dr Abdenur noted that while the IPCC has not stopped global warming, it has catapulted climate change into a visible, shared global problem, measuring it, scientifically assessing it and ensuring its place in urgent political discussions.
The IPI will do the same and examine Inequality’s relationship with intersecting concerns: health, education, opportunity and climate vulnerability.
“We really want to challenge the older assumption that societies must choose between reducing inequality and growing their economies. Over the past 15 years, a different body of evidence has emerged: reducing inequality can strengthen economic performance,” explained Valodia.
The consensus at the event was that inequality wastes human potential. When poorer children have limited access to nutritious food, quality education and healthcare, while wealthier children enjoy every advantage, opportunity is not equally distributed. Inequality of outcomes then reinforces inequality of opportunity across generations. Public investment in health, education and social protection is a social justice issue and is necessary to support overall human resilience in the face of intersecting crises.
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