Money & Power · Money & Power
Share of global income going to the bottom half
Half the world's people, a fraction of the income
8%
Current total · Example period
What this number is
How much of global income reaches the poorest half of the world's adults.
Income, not wealth. Measured before most redistribution.
Why it matters
It is the plainest available measure of global economic disparity.
How it is produced
Combined survey, tax and national accounts data.
Plato's Cave classifies this figure as ESTIMATED. Estimated figures are built from samples and surveys, then scaled up. They carry a margin that is rarely printed alongside the headline.
How to read it carefully
This entry is still showing an example figure while research reaches it. Do not cite the number — use the sources below and the framing above.
Reference period: Example period. Last checked: Placeholder.
Plato's Cave commentary
Money figures feel objective and rarely are. Every large financial total depends on what is counted as wealth, whose assets are visible, and which debts are recorded at all.
Read this number as a distribution question rather than a total. The interesting part is not how much exists, but how little of it moves.