While Indians have grown wealthier in recent years, the wealthiest are miniscule in number, a wealth report has shown. Despite this, India has a relatively high inequality compared to the rest of the world.
The Global Wealth Report 2018 by Credit Suisse analyses the wealth of 5 billion adults using financial balance sheets and country-specific household surveys.
More people, less wealth
Just one of every 10 Indians has wealth of over $10,000. Though there are 3.4 dollar millionaires in the country, their proportion is negligible compared to counterparts in the rest of the world.
Personal wealth rises
The average personal wealth per capita has been on the rise over the years, but the rate of growth has fallen.
Debt rises
While the share of non-financial assets has risen steadily in recent years, the percentage of household debt has burgeoned. Financial wealth has shown a slight decline over the years.
The wealth-inequality equation
India's median wealth per adult is $1,289. This is much less than the global median of $4,209. India also has a high Gini coefficient, which means it is among poorer countries with high inequality.
The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality. A Gini of 0 indicates total equality in the population and 100 denotes full inequality.
The below chart shows selected countries' median wealth per capita plotted against the Gini coefficient.
How to read the chart:
Top right: countries with high median wealth, but the wealth is very unequally distributed
Bottom right: poor country, high inequality
Bottom left: poor country, low inequality
Top left: rich country with low inequality (or even wealth distribution)
