Top 1% Indians’ share in national income is higher now than under British-rule: Data Premium

Post-liberalisation, the income share of the top 10% skyrocketed, with that of middle 40% and bottom 50% steadily falling

In 2022, 22.6% of the national income went to the top 1% of Indians. Cut to 1951, their share in the income was only 11.5% and even lower in the 1980s — just before India opened up its economy — at 6%.

The share of the top 10% of Indians too had increased — from 36.7% of national income in 1951 to 57.7% in 2022.

On the other hand, the bottom 50% of Indians earned only 15% of the national income in 2022, compared with 20.6% in 1951. The middle 40% of Indians also recorded a sharp fall in their share of income from 42.8% to 27.3% in the period.

The gap between the rich and the poor has widened rapidly in the last two decades.

In 2022, the share of national income that went to the wealthiest 1% of Indians recorded a historic peak, higher than the levels seen in developed countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. These are some of the conclusions of the recently released ‘Income and Wealth Inequality in India’ report published by the World Inequality Lab.

Chart 1 | The chart shows the income group-wise share in national income, and the adult population in each bracket as of 2022-23.

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