SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities explained

SDG post #10 - SDG 10  Reduce inequality within and among countries

Hi #sustainability champions, today we continue our  journey exploring the individual SDGs one by one to polish our knowledge and upscale in SDG learning. As mentioned before we send out a post approximately once or twice weekly until we have gone through all 17 SDGs. Today we tackle  SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities.

You can follow or connect with us and see what we have to offer related to upscaling your change maker abilities (of tools and training) on our SDG toolkit webpages. ✔

So let’s explore Sustainable Development Goal 10 (SDG 10), also known as  "Reduced Inequalities" in a concise manner suitable for learning.

What is SDG 10 about?

Sustainable Development Goal 10 (SDG 10) is a global commitment to "reduce inequality within and among countries". It covers a substantial and diverse variety of topics such as reducing inequalities within and between countries, ensure equal opportunities for all, support of social, economic and political inclusion, increase income for poorer populations, ensure self-empowerment for all people, increase participation and decision making influence of developing countries in international economic and financial institutions, rules and regulations towards secure and safe migration and more. It is to tackle existing inequalities and unequal opportunities due to income, gender, age, disabilities, sexual orientation, race, class, ethnicity or religion and is therefore a pertinent topic everywhere. 

Why does SDG 10 matter?

Too much of the world’s wealth is held by a very small group of people.This often leads to financial and social discrimination and loss of social cohesion. In order for nations to flourish, equality and prosperity must be available to everyone – regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs or economic status. When every individual is self-sufficient and able to flourish, the entire world prospers, but if the opposite is the case inequality is one of the key ingredients of past civilisation collapse .

Oxfam’s “Survival of the Richest” report shows that the top 1% of the global population has double the income of the bottom 99 percent.  That report also includes a number of shocking statistics including the fact that the world’s billionaires’ fortunes increase by $2.7 billion a day or that Elon Musk paid a “true tax rate” of about 3 percent between 2014 and 2018.

For much of the 1900s, the biggest challenge we faced when it came to inequality was the disparity between countries.  In other words, developing nations were much worse off than developed nations.  However, the gap between these countries has been narrowing over the last 25 years, this is not to say that there are no countries left behind, just that overall there has been an improvement thanks to economic growth in countries like China and India.  But as we saw progress between countries, a new challenge has emerged which is that inequality has grown substantially within countries, meaning among the individuals living in countries. This has been particularly true since the financial crisis in 2008. Today 71 percent of the world’s population lives in a country where inequality has grown.  Or put in even more simple terms income and wealth are increasingly concentrated at the top. The mentioned Oxfam report shows that in the 10 years since the financial crisis, the number of billionaires has nearly doubled.  In addition, the fortunes held by these billionaires are just getting bigger. In 2018, the 26 richest people in the world held as much wealth as half of the global population (the 3.8 billion poorest people), down from 43 people the year before.

Incomes of the poorest 40% of the population have generally grown faster than the national average in many countries and financial transfers during the pandemic boosted shared prosperity. However, over the past five years, the gap in per capita income growth between the poorest and richest countries has widened. In addition, discrimination based on age, gender, religion, race, or belief affects one in six people globally. The year 2023 marked a record high of 35.8 million refugees, and over 8,000 migrant deaths were recorded globally.

By disproportionately affecting the poorest and most vulnerable groups, climate change and `natural` disasters contribute to exacerbating existing inequalities within and across countries. 

On the other hand, the environment can contribute to the reduction of inequity, including through sound management of natural resources and critical ecosystems, as well as supporting institutional arrangements regarding the use and access to natural resources.  Lack of access to natural resources on the other hand is a major contributor into inequality.

From eradication of poverty (SDG 1), end hunger (SDG 2), provision of good health and well-being (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), and gender equality (SDG 5), decent work (SDG 8), infrastructure, industry and innovation (SDG 9), SDG 10 connects with most if not all SDGs in a direct or indirect manner, hence the type and way of reducing inequalities in all forms and achieving better inclusion, integration and empowerment for all in all countries and between countries alike is critically important to achieve the SDGs and its targets, be it for the environment, for society and economy.

Addressing both within- and between-country inequality necessitates equitable resource distribution, investment in education and skills development, implementation of social protection measures, combating discrimination, supporting marginalised groups, and fostering international cooperation for fair trade and fair financial systems.

• Among 124 countries with available data, more than half have achieved income growth for the bottom 40% of the population at a rate higher than the national average. However, there are notable regional disparities. In 78% of countries in Northern America and Europe, the bottom 40% experienced faster income growth than the national average, while only 30% of countries in Central Asia and Southern Asia demonstrated this trend. Limited data from the pandemic period suggests that in most regions, financial transfers boosted shared prosperity in many countries by supporting the income growth of disadvantaged populations.
• The number of countries reporting on discrimination has increased by 37% since 2022. However, one person in six continues to encounter discrimination. Racial discrimination and discrimination based on age, gender, religion or belief remain pervasive. While 7% of the population surveyed report being discriminated against on the ground of social origin or socio-economic status, only less than a fifth of countries monitor this ground.
• The share of economic output earned by workers decreased from 54.1% in 2004 to 52.7% in 2021, amounting to an average decline of $568 (PPP) per worker. The pandemic exacerbated this situation, with economic output and labour income in 2021 still below 2019 levels in many regions. As earnings from work are crucial for the less well-off and vulnerable, the long-term decline in labour income share represents an upward pressure for inequality.
• For the first time this century, half of the 75 most vulnerable countries are experiencing a widening income gap with the wealthiest economies. A quarter of the global population - 1.9 billion people - live in these countries. One in three of these countries are poorer than before the pandemic. Between 2020 and 2024, one in two  of these countries has achieved slower growth in income per capita than in the wealthy economies, the highest share since 2000. One in four people in most vulnerable countries live on less than $2.15 a day, an extreme poverty rate that is more than eight times the mean for the rest of the world. Ninety per cent of people facing hunger and malnutrition live in these most vulnerable countries, half of which are in debt distress or at high risk of it.
• Developing countries make up 74 per cent of United Nations General Assembly Members but have limited voice and participation in international economic decision-making, norm-setting and governance. At the World Bank's main lending arm, developing countries hold only 39 percent of voting rights, far short of their 75 per cent share of the bank's membership. At the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private sector lending arm, developing countries have just over 32 per cent of voting rights.
• In 2023, there were 8,177 migrant fatalities globally, marking the deadliest year on record, per data from IOM’s Missing Migrants Project. This underscores the urgent need for safe migration pathways, as people continue to risk their lives on irregular routes due to limited alternatives. The top countries of origin in terms of migrants losing their lives have active armed conflicts. They include Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Syria. At mid-2023, 35.8 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, including other people in need of international protection, remained forcibly displaced due to war, conflict, persecution, human rights violations, and events seriously disturbing public order. This figure represents the highest total recorded to date and reflects increases due to new situations and no progress in resolving protracted refugee situations. In 2015, there were 213 refugees per 100,000 people worldwide, but by mid-2023, this figure doubled to 441 refugees per 100,000 people.

Key targets and indicators  

SDG 10 is defined by 10 targets, which  are measured by 14  indicators, which makes SDG 10 by its focus a major SDG to tackle, ensuring progress can be tracked and goals can be met, that look at all dimensions of inequality for all which explores a variety of topics related to appropriate incomes, equal opportunities, inclusion and participation, empowerment for all, but also migration, governance, finance and investment decision making. The main targets summarised include (if you want to know the exact wording in the Agenda 2030 you should have a look here):

• progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population
• empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all
• ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome
• adopt policies, especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies for equality
• improve the regulation and monitoring of global financial markets and institutions
• ensure enhanced representation and voice for developing countries in decision-making in global international governance, economic and financial institutions
• facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people
• implement the principle of special and differential treatment for developing countries (i.e. fair tariffs) 
• encourage official development assistance and financial flows, including foreign direct investment

Challenges & Progress

Progress towards SDG 10 still faces significant challenges as diverse as this SDG is, from rising issues with income inequality between and within countries, issues of social, economic and political exclusion, or even open discrimination, unequal trade relations and/or access to fair finances particularly for least developed countries. At the same time issues around migration and movement of people increase in number and severity, not least due to geopolitically triggered conflicts but also climate change and other related environmental disasters are on the rise. To expedite progress towards SDG 10, efforts should prioritize equitable resource distribution, investment in education and skills development, implementation of social protection measures, combating discrimination, supporting marginalised groups, and fostering international cooperation for fair trade and fair financial systems..

"We declare that human rights apply to all of us, everytime and everywhere: whoever we are and wherever we come from, independent from our class, our opinions or sexual orientations’  Ban Ki-moon, Former Secretary General of the UN. 

Addressing inequality both within and among countries necessitates equitable resource distribution, investment in education and skills, social protection measures, efforts to stop discrimination, support for marginalised groups and international cooperation for fair trade and financial systems will be essential to achieve this goal. 

Overall the latest UN SDG progress report on SDG 10 shows variable progress from regression (fiscal & social protection, trade regulations), stagnation (global governance, migration policies), marginal progress (income growth and distribution, regulation of finance), to moderate progress (money transfer costs), but also a target on track (i.e. resources for development) but overall way off track with enormous regional differences and hugely significant acceleration is required on most of  SDG 10 targets. 

Despite the economic disruptions of the pandemic, the global share of people living on less than half the median income has been declining due to social assistance programmes. However, workers' wages have not kept pace with productivity, and labour's share of GDP has resumed its long-term decline (meaning income is flowing towards the top). A historic reversal is threatening improvements in inequality among countries. The economies of half the world's most vulnerable countries have been growing at slower rates than those of wealthy countries, showing that economic development is off course.

More people died on migration routes in 2023 than in any other year on record. The number of refugees worldwide reached a historic high.  Developing countries are not fairly represented in international governance and economic decision-making. Strengthening their voice and participation is crucial to ensuring a more inclusive and equitable global economic system.

If you would like to know more about where your country currently stands with SDG 10 (and all other SDGs), you can check out the latest Sustainable Development Report - Country Profiles (as well as Rankings, Interactive Maps and a Data Explorer), and additional visual presentations available on Our World in Data.  

Income inequality has increased nationally and globally over the last decades. It creates a breakdown of community cohesion locally and lack of global solidarity. The 2024 Credit Suisse ‘Global Wealth Report’ showed that  85% of the world’s wealth is in the hands of 10% of the population, whereas the top 1% own about 50% of total wealth. While the bottom 70% of the population share only 3% of the wealth among them.

Inequality can be found with regard to income, economic wealth, gender, age, disability, class, ethnicity, race, religious beliefs and opportunities to access education, technology, and knowledge. Inequalities occur within and between countries. Some kinds of inequality are drivers for international migration. Addressing inequality internationally also means to include developing countries more in global decision-making and development assistance. 

How to achieve reduction of inequality within and among countries for all?

Like any other SDG, also SDG 10 would require a multifaceted and multi-dimensional approach, but in general SDG 10  is one of the complex and tightly interconnected (with other) SDGs to tackle which will require transformations on many levels like poverty, hunger, health, education, social protection, decent work, particularly for vulnerable and disadvantaged peoples and countries. Some of the more higher level (and often global to national) aspects of achieving SDG 10 could possibly include in summary (but by far not be limited to) something like the following, which aim to create a holistic approach to reducing inequalities within and between countries, create equal opportunities and options to more fully participate for all:

• Progressive Taxation: Implementing progressive tax systems, where higher income groups and corporations pay higher tax rates, can help reduce income inequality. Ensure wealth is redistributed more equitably, financing social programs and public services that benefit disadvantaged groups. This should also include international tax regimes to avoid tax flight.
• Universal Social Protection Systems: Expanding social safety nets such as universal healthcare, unemployment benefits, and pensions. Protect vulnerable populations from economic shocks and provide a basic level of security for all, helping to reduce disparities between different socioeconomic groups.
• Inclusive Education and Skill Development: Providing affordable and quality education and vocational training, especially to marginalised communities. Promote equal opportunities for economic participation, enabling individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to access better job prospects and economic mobility.
• Minimum Wage Laws and Labor Rights:  Enforcing and increasing the minimum wage while ensuring workers' rights to fair pay, safe working conditions, and job security, as well as bargaining power and representation. Reduce income inequality by raising wages for low-income workers, at the same time limiting maximum wages, which can help decrease the wage gap and improve living standards for marginalised groups.
• Transform Ownership and control: Replace profit-maximising corporations with institutions that share power among individuals committed to community wellbeing. A promising model is provided by workers cooperatives already widely used and tested.. Each worker owns one share that can only be sold back to the corporation for sale to another worker. Also shift to public or cooperative community ownership of for-profit banks and other financial institutions authorised to issue official currencies, cryptocurrencies, financial derivatives and other artificial financial assets.
• Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Policies:  Implementing affirmative action programs to promote the inclusion of historically marginalized groups (e.g., women, racial minorities, people with disabilities, migrants) in education, employment, and political representation. Ensure that disadvantaged groups have equitable access to opportunities and that systemic discrimination is actively addressed.
• Affordable Housing, Infrastructure  and Urban Planning: Creating policies that ensure access to affordable housing and inclusive urban development and accessible and affordable basic infrastructures, such as rent controls and subsidies for low-income families.  Address housing inequality, which disproportionately affects marginalised populations, and create equitable urban spaces where everyone has access to quality living conditions.
• International Aid, Finance  and Trade Policies: Advocating for fair trade agreements, debt relief, and international aid as well as fair financial systems that support developing economies in their pursuit of equality. Ensure that developing countries have the resources needed to invest in poverty reduction, infrastructure, and social services, contributing to a more equal global economic system.

Inequality is a serious threat to long-term social and economic development. It affects security, population health and patterns of environmental degradation. For example in developing countries, children in the poorest 20% of the population are 3x more likely to die before 5 years of age than those in the richest 20% of the population.

Climate change and environmental degradation can lead to people, who are already being treated unequally, facing more discrimination or exclusion, which in turn can drive migration. Widespread collaboration in regenerating ecosystems functions everywhere offer a way to celebrate our differences and overcome inequalities in the face of shared adversity. 

Instead of putting too much emphasis on generic larger scale ‘solutions’, which are likely somewhat removed from the realities and contexts of many local communities wherever they are. And because the supported approach by Gaia Education for regenerative design and development, is about the context specific potential of each and every place and community. Hence, we want to support the life affirming or life regenerating local to bioregional conversations and co-creative processes which should be a starting point of whole systems based realisation of SDG 10 and all strongly linked and all other SDG systemically together. From this we provide some useful questions to ask yourself or a group you work with locally in relation to SDG 10 (sourced from the Gaia Education SDG Flashcards) in a multidimensional manner in the social, ecological, economic and worldview/cultural dimensions.

SDG Flashcards can provide you with some ideas on how one can possibly work with the SDGs in different (not top down but bottom up) and generative approaches. Based and part of the Gaia Education SDG Flashcards, they contain more than 200 questions on the system-wide approach to achieving the 2030 Agenda.

The cards enable a participatory and problem-centric group conversation and solutions oriented multi-perspectival dialogue. They invite participants to engage and to collaborate to identify actions and solutions to implement the SDGs in ways that are relevant to their lives and communities, locally. This is an effective way to establish local to bioregional community ownership and realisation for the UN SDGs.

The SDG Flashcards are used in the SDG Training of Multipliers. Check out the freely downloadable SDG Training of Multipliers Handbook for a detailed description of how to prepare, promote, and how to use these cards  more easily to promote community activist training, in various settings (e.g. local public bodies, communities, schools, universities, business etc.) as well as many other tools from our SDG webpages.

There are of course many examples of working on SDG 10  and  industry, innovation and infrastructure, sometimes also in a systemic way  (Post 0). 

Gaia Education is involved in educational and training offerings which support the implementation of the SDGs including SDG 10, but is also part of projects and initiatives where at least one, mostly several SDGs are targeted. Examples of training or project involvement with some focus on SDG 10  in a wider sense are: 

ECOSystems PROJECT

Empower young people, especially those facing challenges, to actively engage in sustainable lifestyles, nurture social inclusion, and promote environmental sustainability through innovative education and participation in eco-communities, thereby addressing interconnected challenges of inequality and environmental degradation.

The project intends to increase young people’s engagement in sustainable development and will also open pathways to active participation for young people with fewer opportunities in civil society and decision-making processes by bridging youth with eco-communities. By getting to know the activities of eco-communities and participation in them, young people will naturally increase their motivation to participate in democratic life and to engage in civil society meaningfully, improving their community spirit and inter-connection. They will also be equipped with concrete tools to live a more sustainable lifestyle, including social eco-sustainable entrepreneurship tools, and will be able to promote them in their communities.

On the other hand, the project will be beneficial also for the eco-communities involved. They will be educated and mentored in methods of non-formal education, and methods for working with and targeting people with fewer opportunities, to enable them to attract young people to their activities in the long-term.

ECOSystems intends to foster a sense of community and co-responsibility for Sustainability by building bridges between innovative and relevant stakeholders; respectively eco-communities and youth with fewer opportunities.

The General aim of the project is to achieve a more inclusive society with a developed sense of co-responsibility for local to bioregional and global sustainable development, bringing together young people with eco-communities across Europe.

Socio-Economic Integration of Migrants & Sicilian Youth through Organic Products (Sicilia Integra)

Sicilia Integra aimed to support the socio-economic integration of migrants arriving in Sicily through sustainable community and agroecology capacity-building activities with the view to creating an alternative trading platform for the commercialisation of Sicilian organic products in European markets. Furthermore the project aimed to foster the professionalisation of migrants and unemployed youth, create new job opportunities in regenerative agriculture, while contributing to the development of a circular economy in Sicily.

The initiative has been developed by Gaia Education and the University of Catania in partnership with the Don Bosco 2000 and I Girasoli migrant welcome centres, organic farmers’ cooperatives and European ethical organic food companies.

Specific Objectives

• Creating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) learning pathways to support the professionalisation of migrants and young Sicilians in the emerging European organic food markets
• Building an inclusive, decentralised and transparent system of governance and long-term relationships among the different stakeholders
• Establishing circular economy schemes connecting Sicilian regional food systems with European organic food buyers and markets
• Promoting humanitarian values which will inform the actions aimed to address complexities deriving from historic cultural, social and religious differences
• Conducting the vertical integration between the project and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals

How does your local community's reduced inequalities SDG project look like? 

Again, let’s take our future into our own hands, and start your SDG journey and locally to bio-regionally based community project now!

And to close if you would like to learn much more about SDG 10  and all other SDGs and the Agenda 2030 and many more topics, approaches and methods to practically work with the SDG in your local to bioregional context we encourage you  to start or re-invigorate your personal SDG journey through the upcoming online SDGs Multipliers course, starting on 17th February 2025.

More about the Multipliers course

For more and the video affine the SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities - UN Sustainable Development Goals - DEEP DIVE

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