These inspiring world leaders have joined forces to fight inequality

Winnie Byanyima describes a coalition of progressive leaders from diverse economies—including Sweden, Ethiopia, Spain, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Namibia, and South Korea—who have joined forces at the 74th UN General Assembly to combat extreme inequality and exclusion. The author asserts that inequality is a "political and policy choice" rather than an inevitable byproduct of economic growth, citing South Korea's efforts to increase the minimum wage and tax the wealthy as evidence that a people-centered economy is achievable.

• Extreme wealth concentration is highlighted, with the top 1% earning more than half of the global population combined, and 26 billionaires possessing more wealth than 3.9 billion people.
• A group of progressive leaders from both rich and poor nations has formed a coalition to tackle extreme inequality and exclusion, challenging the economic consensus that such inequality is inevitable.
• South Korea is cited as an example of a country implementing a people-centered economy through specific policy actions, including raising the minimum wage, increasing taxes on the wealthy, and expanding social spending.
• The author links the interests of a wealthy few to the current scale of climate chaos.

APA

Byanyima, W. (2019). These inspiring world leaders have joined forces to fight inequality. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/global-leaders-fight-inequality-unga-oxfam/

Chicago

Byanyima, Winnie. These inspiring world leaders have joined forces to fight inequality. World Economic Forum, 2019. https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/global-leaders-fight-inequality-unga-oxfam/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Byanyima |first1=Winnie |title=These inspiring world leaders have joined forces to fight inequality |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=26 September 2019 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/global-leaders-fight-inequality-unga-oxfam/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{byanyima2019these, author = {Byanyima, Winnie}, title = {{These inspiring world leaders have joined forces to fight inequality}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/sustainable-development/global-leaders-fight-inequality-unga-oxfam/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }