On 21 October, Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) issued a joint report, “Committing to Reducing Inequality”, detailing record inequality and rising austerity around the world. In total, 90 percent of the 164 countries examined were implementing policies “that are very likely to increase economic inequality.”

The report examined three “pillars” to assess the level of inequality within the 164 nations: spending on public services (for education, health and social protection); progressive taxation; and labor rights and wages. Since the last report in 2022, 84% of countries have reduced spending on education, health and/or social protection. Fiscal policies have regressed in 81% of countries and “Labour rights, minimum wages, vulnerable jobs and/or labor income inequality have worsened in 90% of countries”.

Oxfam and DFI began issuing these reports in 2017. The 2024 report is the first time most countries have been found to be regressing in all three areas. The report notes that because of this worldwide decline in social policy, “inequality is at an all-time high – and rising.”

Of the 164 countries examined, 112 fell below the minimum recommendation of spending 15-20% of the national budget on education. From 2022, average spending on education fell from 14% to 13.7%.

Health spending has stagnated at 11% since the 2022 report, with spending not returning to pre-pandemic levels in the poorest countries. The 2022 report found that half of low- and lower-middle-income countries cut health spending in the first two years of the pandemic. Social protection spending also stagnated at 18.3% between 2022 and 2024.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, two pillars of the global capitalist system, have played a particularly harmful role in reducing social spending and increasing inequality over the past two years. As of 2022, 94% of countries operating under World Bank programs and 95% with IMF loans have cut budgets for education, health and/or social protection.

The report noted that “the IMF continues to actively contribute to increased global austerity measures, as seen in particular in the recommended spending cuts in the vast majority of countries to reduce post-pandemic debt and deficit levels.” As an April 2023 Oxfam report noted:

“Austerity kills. It ruins lives and destroys potential. It cripples economies, setting societies’ progress back many years. It increases inequality and poverty.”

Eight of the bottom 10 performing countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. All countries in this region have World Bank and IMF programs.

The two countries with the largest decline in public service spending from 2022 are Argentina and Ukraine. In Argentina, fascist President Javier Milei has enacted a 76 percent cut in health spending and a 60 percent cut in education while scrapping laws that protect workers. Milei also pushed for retrograde changes to the country’s wealth tax, lowering tax rates and raising tax-free wealth thresholds.