Overview - Reduced Inequalities
UN SDG Goal 10 - Reduced Inequalities, aims to reduce inequality within and among countries.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 provides information on Goal 10 progress at a global level since 2015.
Extract from UN SDG Report 2026:
- In most countries, the incomes of the poorest rose faster than the national average, but progress is uneven. Since 2015, 6 in 10 countries reduced the share of their population living below half the median income, though low-income countries were less likely to see that progress. Meanwhile, labour’s share of GDP fell between 2015 and 2025, potentially widening income inequality.
- Discrimination remains widespread and undermeasured. Nearly one in five people reports experiencing discrimination in the past 12 months, with rates varying across groups and countries. Critical data gaps obscure the true scale, limiting effective policy responses and hindering progress.
- Refugee numbers have more than doubled since 2015. As conflict has intensified globally, the share of the world’s population living as refugees reached 444 per 100,000 people by mid-2025 – more than double 2015 levels.
- Reducing inequality requires closing income gaps, protecting labour and scaling development finance. Addressing these disparities demands redistributive policies, improving labour’s share of economic growth, targeting ODA and foreign investment to countries most in need and tackling the root causes of forced displacement.
Further details on progress at a global level are in Goal 10 of the UN report.
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