One graphic that shows your mom was right: the world isn't fair

Wanna hear something unfair? At least half of your total earning potential, for your whole life, was determined by a total accident when you were born. And for the vast majority of people on Earth, nothing they'll ever do will change that.

That's according to a new study by Branko Milanovic, the former lead economist at the World Bank's research division and now affiliated with the University of Maryland. Milanovic's study divided countries into 100 classes by annual income: for example, the mean yearly income among the poorest 1 percent in the US would be the first percentile, and the richest 1 percent would be the 100th percentile.

The below chart shows the range of incomes in PPP-adjusted dollars, from bottom to top percentile, in three countries: India, South Korea, and the United States. It shows just how staggeringly important the luck of where you're born is:

(Javier Zarracina/Vox. Data from Branko Milanovic)

America's poorest 1 percent makes on average more than 10 times what India's poorest makes — and America's richest 1 percent makes more than 25 times their Indian equivalent. Hard work and good luck pays off a lot more if you happen to be American.

These numbers are especially stunning because less than 3 percent of people worldwide live somewhere that isn't their home country. For the other 97 percent, their income potential is set by their country's GDP: wealthier countries have more money for everyone, which makes their poor poorer and their rich, on average, richer.

Milanovic's study actually quantified how much this matters. According to his model, "at least" half of the global variation in individual incomes is set by how rich different countries are and how unequal they are internally. That means a huge chunk of your income is set by two things: where you're born, and the way income there is distributed. That's it. And you have zero control over either of them.

Does that sound even remotely fair to you? If not, it's time to start thinking about how much you can do to make the world a slightly less unequal place.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via