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Below is from the reference in Jim's post. It may help explain some local issues.
While inequality has increased within most countries of the world, Over the past two decades, global inequalities between countries have declined. The gap between the average incomes of the richest 10% of countries and the poorest 50% of countries dropped from around 50 to a little less than 40. At the same time, inequalities increased significantly within countries. The gap between the average incomes of the top 10% and the bottom 50% within countries has almost doubled, from 8.5 to 15. This strong rise of inequalities within countries has meant that, despite economic catch-up and strong growth in the emerging world, the world remains particularly unequal to today. It has also meant that inequalities within countries are now even larger than the strong inequalities that are observed between countries.