Half the globe is now middle class. Is that sustainable?
The emergence of a global middle class might seem unremarkable when compared with flashier transformations such as the digital revolution, globalization, or artificial intelligence.
Yet it may be one of the more consequential shifts in human history. That’s the case economist Homi Kharas makes in his book “The Rise of the Global Middle Class: How the Search for the Good Life Can Change the World.”
Until the early 19th century, less than 1% of the world’s
