Inequality is an issue of growing importance around the world, with Thomas Pikkety’s Capital in the 21st Century bringing the issue to the attention of the public and policy makers alike.  A new study from the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg suggests that inequality is at the heart of various social issues, ranging from obesity rates to intentional homicides.

The researchers looked at a range of social problems across 40 rich countries around the world, and found that on most of them European and Asian countries perform better than Latin American and Anglophone countries.  The analysis suggests that while economic prosperity is universally helpful, economic inequality is not.

The authors believe that inequality matters because it helps to weaken the social bonds between people, which in turn impacts various social and health-related issues, even as general economic prosperity lessens the chances of those issues arising.  The key, therefore, is to have high economic prosperity, and low economic inequality.

“This is the main reason behind the geographic pattern we found, with social ills being more widespread in the Americas and the Anglophone New World countries, and less widespread in European and particularly Asian countries,” the researchers say.

A better life

While the report highlights the impact inequality has on various social issues, it’s also at pains to point out that the world has seen improvement on these issues during the 15 year period, from 2000-2015, analyzed for the research.  Across Europe, rising prosperity has led to societies with fewer social ills.

“This shows that other factors beyond income inequality and economic prosperity play a role in the development of social ills, too. Still, our results prompt scholars as well as the public to re-think the widespread negative image of contemporary society. In many countries, there is small progress towards a better society with less social ills,” the researchers continue.

The research focused on six specific social challenges: infant mortality, low life expectancy, obesity, teenage pregnancy, imprisonment rate and intentional homicides, with data collected from the Worldbank and World Health Organization.