WASHINGTON: Despite a sharp fall in inequality around the world, the US, China and India have witnessed upward trends in its level, the IMF said today.
The International Monetary Fund said that despite the relevance of education, health and progress in recent years, gaps of access to quality education and healthcare services between different income groups in the population remained in many countries, including in advanced economies.
“If one focused on citizens around the world, global inequality has trended down sharply in recent decades, and that is a change from the upward trend since the beginning of the 19th century,” Vitor Gaspar, the Director of the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department, told reporters on the occasion of release of the annual Fiscal Monitor report here.
Declining global inequality reflects mainly catching up across countries, he said, adding that differences in per capita income between countries account for about two-thirds of global inequality in 2015.
In contrast, if one looks at inequality country by country, it become obvious that most people around the world live in countries where inequality has increased.
“It is important to emphasise that inequality has increased in the largest countries in the world: China, India and the United States,” he said. (AGENCIES)
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