The income gap between the fifth of the world's population in the wealthiest countries and the poorest fifth of the world's population was 74 to one in 1997, up from 60 to one in 1990, and 30 to one in 1960. Those living in the poorest countries share only one percent of any of these. OECD countries, with 19 percent of global population, control 71 percent of global trade in goods and services, and consume 16 times more than the poorest fifth of the globe. These overall figures do not take into account the huge social inequalities within the wealthiest countries themselves. Some figures taken from the Human Development Indices attached to the report illustrate the income polarisation within both the industrialised and the poorest countries.
Similar inequalities are to be found in all the industrialised countries.
While figures are not available for all the poorest countries, the inequalities are even starker. As many as 84 percent of the population subsist on one dollar a day or less. At least 87 percent of the population live on less than one dollar a day. Some countries have recorded growth in average per capita income over the past decade, but more than 80 countries have lower per capita income than at the beginning of the 1990s. Fifty-five countries have declining per capita incomes.