The global middle class is both smaller and poorer than previously thought, according to a new study, with hundreds of millions who have recently emerged from poverty in developing countries still vulnerable to falling back into it.
The research by the Washington-based Pew Research Center paints a picture of entrenched prosperity in the rich economies of Europe and North America and a world that is more divided than previous studies have suggested.
Despite vast changes in China and other parts of Asia, there has only been incremental progress in large parts of the developing world. Just 16 per cent of the world’s population lives on incomes that would take them safely above the US poverty line.
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