UAE Leads the World in Wealth Inequality

The United Arab Emirates has ranked first in the world for the unequal distribution of wealth among its population. This was reported in the Global Wealth Report 2026 prepared by Switzerland's UBS bank. Russia, which recorded the same indicator as the UAE, took second place in the ranking.

What does the Gini coefficient mean?

The study used the Gini coefficient, which shows how equally or unequally wealth is distributed among a country's population.

The higher the indicator, the larger the portion of assets concentrated in the hands of a small group of the population.

This does not refer to wages or daily income, but rather to the following forms of wealth:

• real estate;

• investments;

• bank savings;

• shares and other assets.

Which countries have the highest indicators?

According to the results of 2025, the countries with the highest levels of wealth inequality are as follows:

Why is the UAE in first place?

The report authors explained the high indicator in the UAE by the large number of ultra-wealthy residents in the country.

At the same time, there is also a large proportion of migrant workers with relatively low savings. As a result, the bulk of the wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a limited circle of people.

Uzbekistan not included in the ranking

UBS bank analyzed a total of 56 markets as part of the report.

However, data regarding Uzbekistan was not provided in the ranking of wealth inequality.

Income inequality and wealth inequality are not the same

Experts emphasize that this ranking should not be confused with income inequality among the population.

While income inequality compares people's wages and other earnings, wealth inequality takes into account their housing, investments, savings, and other assets.

For this reason, these two indicators are calculated differently and cannot replace each other.