Filenews 1 September 2025 - by Theano Thiopoulou
The richest 1% of people in the world now own more wealth than the vast majority of the world's population combined.
To investigate how the distribution of wealth owned by the richest 10% has changed, the BestBrokers team collected data from the open-source World Inequality Database, covering 217 countries. The dataset measures the share of national wealth, which includes both financial and non-financial assets, and is controlled by the richest people in society.
In the recently published report titled "Wealth Inequality in the 21st Century: Countries Where the Rich Have Become Richer Since 2000," analysts found that China has experienced the most dramatic increase in wealth concentration among its richest 10 percent. The share of the country's total wealth increased from 48.3% in 2000 to 68% in 2023, an increase of almost 20 percentage points. Meanwhile, South Africa currently has the largest gap between rich and poor, with the richest 10% owning about 85.8% of the country's total wealth.
Analysts in the report note that Cyprus recorded one of the steepest increases in wealth concentration in Europe, with the share of national wealth held by 10% of income earners increasing by 16 percentage points, from 50.7% in 2000 to 66.7% in 2023. As recorded in the report, "between 2007 and 2020, the country's 'golden passport' program attracted wealthy foreign investors and increased property prices.
In Cyprus, the share of wealth of the super-rich increased from 12.8% to 33.3% between 2000 and 2023, the largest increase not only in Europe but also globally. Slovenia, which had the lowest inequality at the beginning of the century (the richest 1% owned 12.1%), also saw a significant increase in wealth concentration, with the super-rich owning 23.1% of wealth by 2023. In Asia, China and India have experienced similar sharp increases.
