Policy plea after rich gap revealed

TOKYO - Global income inequality has worsened over the past four decades, a report has found, with the wealthiest 1 percent of the world's population capturing twice as much income growth as the bottom half.

The world's middle class, made up mostly of people in North America and Europe, has by some measures fared the worst. Globalization has boosted incomes for hundreds of millions of people in developing countries, particularly China and India. And it has lowered pay for manufacturing workers and other middle-income employees in the developed world.

The World Inequality Report 2018 is based on an interactive collection of data compiled by an international team of researchers that includes renowned economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.