inequalities around the globe: what the world sees …

INEQUALITIESAROUND THE GLOBE:

WHAT THE WORLD SEES AS MOST SERIOUS

Which types of

inequality do people

see as most serious?

Across the 28 countries,

six in ten on average say

inequalities in income and

wealth are seen as the

most serious. Area based

inequalities between more

and less deprived areas

seen as the second most

serious.

24%

29%

31%

31%

32%

42%

60%

Between older andyounger generations

Between racial orethnic groups

Between menand women

In health andlife expectancies

In educationaloutcomes for children

Between more andless deprived areas

In income and wealth

Global CountryAverage

Which three or four of the following types of inequality,if any, do you think are most serious in [country]?

Base: 23,004 adults interviewed online between 23 Dec 2020 and 8 Jan 2021

Women are more

concerned than men about

gender inequality and

slightly more concerned

about inequalities in health

and life expectancies.

25%

26%

30%

30%

31%

43%

60%

23%

36%

33%

29%

33%

41%

61%








Women

Men

Which three or four of the following types of inequality, if any, do you think are most serious in [COUNTRY]?


Concerns about income

and wealth inequalities are

higher among older people

than those aged under 35.

Younger people are much

more likely to be

concerned about racial

and ethnic inequalities and

gender inequality than

older people.

27%

29%

34%

32%

27%

42%

64%

22%

29%

31%

32%

27%

43%

61%

23%

35%

29%

32%

34%

41%

56%








Under 35

35 to 49

50 to 74

Which three or four of the following types of inequality, if any, do you think are most serious in [COUNTRY]?


Where countries

rank on concern

about different

types of inequality

22%

26%

27%

29%

31%

31%

34%

35%

36%

36%

38%

40%

40%

41%

42%

43%

44%

45%

45%

47%

49%

51%

51%

52%

53%

57%

63%

64%

42%

Germany

Saudi Arabia

Japan

Singapore

Belgium

Netherlands

Canada

SpainFrance

Australia

United States

Sweden

India

China

Italy

Malaysia

Turkey

South Africa

Chile

Brazil

MexicoGreat Britain

Poland

Hungary

Argentina

Peru

South Korea

Russia

Global Country Average


People in Russia, South

Korea and Peru are much

more likely than average to

be concerned about

inequality between more

and less deprived areas.

This is far less of an issue

in Germany, Saudi Arabia

and Japan.

% who say inequalities between more and less deprived areas are one ofthe three or four most serious types of inequality in their country

12%

15%

19%

19%

22%

23%

24%

24%

24%

25%

29%

29%

30%

30%

34%

34%

35%

37%

37%

38%

39%

40%

40%

41%

41%

42%

42%

45%

31%

MalaysiaRussia

SingaporeSaudi Arabia

HungaryGreat Britain

ArgentinaPolandChinaJapan

CanadaAustralia

United StatesNetherlands

PeruGermany

BrazilSwedenBelgium

South KoreaFrance

ChileItaly

IndiaSouth Africa

SpainTurkeyMexico



People in Mexico, Turkey and Spain are most concerned about gender inequality.

On the other hand, concern about gender inequality is relatively low in Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Hungary – yet these countries rank relatively low down on the gender equality index.

% who say inequalities between men and women are one ofthe three or four most serious types of inequality in their country

25

130

8

17

112

76

57

15

108

27

4

92

10

66

38

53

34

19

121

106

40

30

21

105

146

54

81

104

Global ranking for gender equality

Even though some countries

– such as Spain, Sweden,

France and Germany – rank

highly on objective

measures of gender

equality, they still have

greater levels of concern

about this issue than other

nations that fare much

worse on this type of

inequality – such as Russia,

Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

By contrast, Turkey is

ranked 130th for equality

between men and women –

one of the worst countries in

the world by this measure –

yet people there are among

the most concerned about

this issue.

Sweden

Spain

Germany

France

S Africa

Canada

GB

Mexico

Belgium

Argentina

Australia

Netherlands

Poland

US

Singapore

Chile

Peru

Italy

Russia

Brazil

Malaysia

Hungary

China

S Korea

India

Japan

Turkey

Saudi Arabia

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

% who say

gender

inequality

serious in

country

1

Global ranking for gender equality

Most equal Least equal

% who say inequalities between men and women are one of the

three or four most serious types of inequality in their country


8%

9%

10%

11%

18%

18%

18%

19%

20%

22%

23%

24%

25%

27%

30%

30%

31%

35%

35%

36%

38%

38%

41%

45%

45%

46%

55%

65%

29%

South KoreaArgentina

JapanRussiaPolandTurkey

HungaryChile

GermanyChina

Saudi ArabiaSpain

MexicoItaly

FranceSingapore

PeruSweden

IndiaGreat Britain

AustraliaNetherlands

BelgiumBrazil

CanadaMalaysia

United StatesSouth Africa


Two-thirds of South

Africans and over half of

Americans consider racial

and ethnic inequalities to

be among the most serious

forms of inequality in their

country.

Concerns about racial and

ethnic inequality are much

lower in South Korea,

Argentina and Japan.

% who say inequalities between racial or ethnic groups are one ofthe three or four most serious types of inequality in their country


31%

38%

41%

51%

52%

54%

54%

56%

56%

56%

57%

57%

59%

59%

60%

62%

63%

63%

64%

65%

66%

69%

69%

75%

75%

77%

80%

83%

60%

Saudi ArabiaPoland

SwedenIndia

AustraliaPeru

CanadaSpain

Great BritainItaly

ChinaUnited States

NetherlandsGermany

MexicoSouth Africa

MalaysiaFrance

BrazilJapan

SingaporeArgentina

BelgiumChile

TurkeyHungary

South KoreaRussia



Concerns about income inequality are highest in Russia, South Korea and Hungary.

Whereas people in Saudi Arabia, Poland and Sweden are least concerned.

% who say income inequality are one ofthe three or four most serious types of inequality in their country

Global ranking for income equality

87

32

26

117

131

10

113

–

43

157

31

110

165

137

34

15

112

92

74

61

60

47

122

59

71

18

22

–

There’s no overall relationship

between actual inequality and

how serious a problem it’s seen

to be relative to other

inequalities.

Sweden ranks highly on

objective measures of income

equality. In line with this, people

there have comparatively very

low levels of concern about this

issue.

Belgium and the Netherlands, on

the other hand, rank even higher

for income equality, yet those

countries are much more likely

to be worried about disparities in

income, underscoring that how

serious people perceive this

type of inequality to be seems

unrelated to actual performance

on this issue.

This dynamic can also be seen

with the US and South Africa –

two countries which in reality

fare very poorly on measures of

income equality but nonetheless

have relatively average levels of

concern about it.

Most equal Least equal

SwedenIndiaAustralia

Canada

Spain

GB Italy China

US

Netherlands

Germany

Mexico

S Africa

France BrazilJapan

Argentina

Belgium

ChileTurkey

S KoreaRussia

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

% who say

income

inequality

serious in

country

1

Global ranking for income equality

(based on Gini index)

Selected countries’ ranking for income equality vs % who say income

inequality is one of the most serious types of inequality in their country


13%

13%

16%

16%

17%

18%

18%

19%

20%

20%

21%

21%

22%

23%

24%

24%

24%

24%

25%

25%

26%

28%

29%

30%

31%

38%

39%

43%

24%

South AfricaTurkeyBrazil

GermanyChina

PolandMalaysia

FranceUnited StatesSaudi Arabia

ChileGreat Britain

RussiaCanada

NetherlandsHungary

SpainMexico

ItalyBelgium

PeruSwedenAustralia

IndiaArgentina

SingaporeJapan

South Korea



South Korea, Japan and

Singapore come top for

concern about generational

inequality in their countries.

Levels of concern lower in

South Africa, Turkey, Brazil

and Germany.

% who say inequalities between older generations and younger generationsare one of the three or four most serious types of inequality in their country

15%

16%

18%

19%

20%

22%

22%

25%

26%

26%

27%

28%

30%

31%

31%

34%

34%

34%

37%

38%

39%

39%

40%

43%

46%

48%

49%

56%

32%

PolandItaly

Saudi ArabiaFrance

CanadaSouth Korea

BelgiumAustraliaMalaysia

SpainNetherlands

SingaporeRussia

United StatesJapan

MexicoGreat Britain

HungarySweden

ChinaBrazil

South AfricaIndia

GermanyArgentina

PeruChile

Turkey



People in Turkey, Chile

and Peru are most likely to

think that inequalities in

educational outcomes for

children area among the

most serious in their

country.

This is much less of a

concern in Poland, Italy

and Saudi Arabia.

% who say inequalities in educational outcomes for children are one ofthe three or four most serious types of inequality in their country

10%

14%

19%

19%

19%

20%

23%

24%

24%

24%

25%

26%

26%

29%

30%

31%

31%

33%

33%

35%

37%

38%

40%

43%

49%

50%

56%

64%

31%

South KoreaJapan

MalaysiaGermany

CanadaSaudi ArabiaUnited States

AustraliaNetherlands

SingaporeSpain

TurkeyItaly

BelgiumGreat Britain

ChinaFrance

SwedenArgentina

South AfricaIndia

PolandRussiaMexico

HungaryBrazilPeruChile



Across all the countries

surveyed, people in Chile,

Peru and Brazil are most

likely to say health

disparities are an

especially problematic

form of inequality in their

country.

By comparison, people in

South Korea, Japan and

Malaysia are less than half

as likely to cite such

inequalities as a serious

problem.

% who say inequalities in health and life expectancies are one ofthe three or four most serious types of inequality in their country

Technical details

Sources for rankings:

Slide 8 &9 : World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index 2020

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf

Slide 11 &12: Gini index ranking

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI?most_recent_value_desc=true

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI?most_recent_value_desc=true

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Kelly Beaver

Managing Director

Ipsos MORI Public Affairs

[email protected]

Kully Kaur-Ballagan

Research Director

Ipsos MORI Public Affairs

[email protected]

Bobby Duffy

Director

The Policy Institute

[email protected]

inequalities around the globe: what the world sees …

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