Rise of the Global Middle Class

Homi Kharas is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a co-founder of World Data Lab, a company with a mission to make everyone count. An economist by training, he is a pioneer in the study of the global middle class. He has over four decades of experience working in or writing about international financial institutions, and contributed to the shaping of the UN-brokered global agreement in 2015 to pursue Sustainable Development Goals in every country and region of the world. He has worked and traveled in almost 90 countries.

Kharas concludes on a hopeful note, arguing that the global middle class can be a force for social and political good if its members press for decarbonization, spend their money on sustainable products, and support policies that foster social mobility and create decent jobs for all.

• Chapter 1. The Middling SortChapter 2. The First Billion: The Victorians and The Rise Of The West, 1830–1975Chapter 3. The Second Billion: Economic Growth in The Third World And Globalization, 1975–2006Chapter 4. The Third Billion: China Dreams, But the West Is Alarmed, 2006–2014Chapter 5. The Fourth Billion: The Indian Elephant In The Room, 2013–2021Chapter 6. The Fifth Billion: Pitfalls Ahead, 2022–2030Chapter 7. A New Agenda For The Global Middle Class: Well-Being For 5 Billion People