Who Owns Britain? UK wealth facts, with sources — independent — verify everything

Is wealth inequality in the UK much worse than income inequality?

Yes. The ONS records a wealth Gini of 0.59 compared to an income Gini of 0.35 — meaning the gap between rich and poor is far wider when you look at what people own than when you look at what they earn.

0.59
wealth Gini coefficient (0 = equal, 1 = one person owns everything) — ONS

The Gini coefficient is the standard way economists measure inequality. It runs from 0, where everyone has the same amount, to 1, where one person has everything. A score of 0.35 for income means wages and salaries are unequal but not catastrophically so. A score of 0.59 for wealth means ownership of assets is extremely concentrated by any international standard.

The gap between the two numbers matters a great deal. Income inequality is what most political debate focuses on, but wealth inequality is what actually determines financial security across a lifetime. Two people on identical salaries can have vastly different wealth: one inherited a house or a pension; the other rents and has nothing to fall back on. Policies that only address wages leave the deeper structural gap entirely untouched.

Financial wealth, meaning savings, shares, and investments, is the most unequally distributed type of wealth in the UK. The least wealthy 10% of households hold £16,500 or less, often consisting entirely of depreciating physical possessions rather than assets that grow in value. The wealthiest 10% hold at least £1.2 million, with the very top fraction holding vastly more.

The income Gini rises from 0.35 to 0.39 once housing costs are factored in, because rent takes a far bigger share of a low earner's income than a high earner's. But even at 0.39, income inequality remains far below the 0.59 recorded for wealth. Closing the wealth gap requires directly addressing asset ownership, not just wage levels.

Watch: why wealth inequality kills growth (76 seconds)
“I'm saying can we just stop this situation where working people pay 50% and billionaires pay 0%”— Gary Stevenson, Channel 4 News interview

Common questions

What does a Gini of 0.59 mean in practice?
It means wealth ownership in the UK is extremely concentrated. For comparison, a Gini of 0 would mean every household had identical wealth. At 0.59, the distribution is heavily skewed toward the top, with a large fraction of households owning little or nothing.
Why is wealth inequality harder to fix than income inequality?
Income can be redistributed through wages and benefits relatively quickly. Wealth accumulates over generations through asset price growth, inheritance, and investment returns, and existing tax policy taxes labour much more heavily than it taxes assets.
Are these ONS figures reliable?
The ONS Wealth and Assets Survey is the main source, but the Office for Statistics Regulation suspended its official accreditation in June 2025, noting that the very wealthy are underrepresented. The real Gini is likely higher than 0.59.

Sources — check them yourself