Income Share Top 10% - Ranking 1980
In 1980, United Kingdom (22.50%), United States (24.80%), and Italy (25.00%) ranked highest in income share top 10% among all countries. Colombia ranked lowest at 42.30%.
Data & analysis
- Colombia — 45.00
- Mozambique — 42.94
- Brazil — 40.62
- Zambia — 39.58
- Panama — 37.67
The 2025 World Bank data on the income share held by the top 10% reveals a stark global divergence in inequality. The highest concentration of income is found in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, with Colombia at 45.0% and Mozambique at 42.9%, indicating that nearly half of all national income flows to a tenth of the population. These nations share a legacy of extractive institutions and weak progressive taxation that perpetuate elite capture. At the opposite end, the Slovak Republic records a low of 18.46%, a figure typical of Central and Eastern European states where strong social safety nets and more equitable labor market structures compress top incomes. The structural reason for this gap lies in the differing capacities for redistribution and the historical entrenchment of oligarchic wealth in the top-ranked countries. Future reshuffling of this leaderboard will depend on whether sustained fiscal reforms, such as wealth taxes or universal basic income programs, can break the cycle of concentration in the highest-inequality economies.
| Rank | Country | Value | YoY % |
|---|---|---|---|