South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (L) receives the G20 Extraordinary Committee Report on Global Inequality from Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz at a ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa, on Nov. 4, 2025. A G20 report commissioned under South Africa's presidency has sounded the alarm over an escalating global inequality crisis, calling for the creation of a new international panel to guide policymaking at both national and global levels. (Photo by Shakirah Thebus/Xinhua)
CAPE TOWN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- A G20 report commissioned under South Africa's presidency has sounded the alarm over an escalating global inequality crisis, calling for the creation of a new international panel to guide policymaking at both national and global levels.
On Tuesday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa received the G20 Extraordinary Committee Report on Global Inequality from Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, and four other leading global experts of the committee at a ceremony in Cape Town.
The report, coordinated by the Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality, was commissioned by Ramaphosa as part of South Africa's G20 presidency under the theme "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability." It warned that between 2000 and 2024, the world's top one percent captured 41 percent of all new wealth.
According to the report, 83 percent of countries, representing 90 percent of the world's population, now meet the World Bank's definition of "high inequality." These nations are seven times more likely to experience democratic decline than more equal societies.
Drawing on data from the World Inequality Lab, the analysis showed that the world's richest one percent have increased their average wealth by 1.3 million U.S. dollars since 2000, while the poorest 50 percent gained only 585 U.S. dollars, adjusted for inflation. Though income gaps between individuals have narrowed largely due to growth in China, the wealth divide between the Global North and South remains substantial.
"The world understands that we have a climate emergency; it is time we recognized that we face an inequality emergency too," said Stiglitz, who chaired the six-member committee behind the report.
Much of the wealth at the top stems from "monopoly power and exploitation," he said, adding that inequality is "not the laws of nature, but the laws of man."
Among its key recommendations, the report urges an ambitious global agenda to tackle inequality by rewriting international tax and trade rules to ensure fair contributions from multinationals and the ultra-wealthy; reforming national policies to support workers, reduce corporate concentration and invest in public services; and strengthening international cooperation on taxation, trade and the green transition amid growing geopolitical volatility.
Ramaphosa said the United Nations has already been informed of the report and that the committee will present it to the G20 Leaders' Summit later this month.
"This is the first time a report of this nature, and on a matter so fundamental, so important to global stability and human progress, is presented for consideration by the G20," Ramaphosa said.
The report should serve as a blueprint for a fairer global economy, ensuring that inequality, like climate change, becomes a central item on the G20 agenda, he said. ■
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (4th R) receives the G20 Extraordinary Committee Report on Global Inequality from Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz (3rd R), UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima (1st R), and four other leading global experts of the committee at a ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa, on Nov. 4, 2025. A G20 report commissioned under South Africa's presidency has sounded the alarm over an escalating global inequality crisis, calling for the creation of a new international panel to guide policymaking at both national and global levels. (Photo by Shakirah Thebus/Xinhua)
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (L) receives the G20 Extraordinary Committee Report on Global Inequality from Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz at a ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa, on Nov. 4, 2025. A G20 report commissioned under South Africa's presidency has sounded the alarm over an escalating global inequality crisis, calling for the creation of a new international panel to guide policymaking at both national and global levels. (Photo by Shakirah Thebus/Xinhua)