Inequality differs significantly across countries. Shifts in inequality tend to be small. Among 49 countries with data on inequality over a long period, only four showed a substantial trend in either direction. Inequality declined in France and Italy and increased in China and New Zealand. Of course, inequality in both countries is still much lower than in many developing countries.
Growth has no systematic impact on inequality.
Of the 88 instances world wide where a country achieved growth in per capita GDP for a decade, inequality improved slightly in about half the cases and worsened slightly in the other half. State-level data from India spanning 40 years show that among the states that achieved economic growth, inequality declined in three quarters and increased in the remaining quarter. Growth almost always benefits the poor. In India, poverty declined in all 14 states that achieved growth in mean income. In general, the higher the rate of growth, the more rapid the reduction in poverty.