The Inequality Predicament: Report on the World Social Situation 2005

In: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/12345

Open Access

Abstract

The Report traces trends and patterns in economic and non-economic aspects of inequality and examines their causes and consequences. Its overarching conclusion is that the global commitment to overcoming inequality, as outlined at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development and endorsed in the Millennium Declaration, is fading. Eighty per cent of the world's GDP belongs to the 1 billion people in the developed world; the remaining 20 per cent is shared by 5 billion people in developing countries. Failure to address this inequality ensures that social justice and better living conditions for all people remain elusive, and that we remain vulnerable to social, political and economic upheaval.