World Inequality Lab released a report titled “Land Inequality in India: Nature, History, and Markets”, covering data from ten major Indian states representing approximately 75% of India’s rural population. The report analyses approximately 2,70,000 villages covering around 650 million people.
Data Sources Used
- 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC): village-level landownership data
- Combined with data on agro-climatic conditions, colonial land tenure systems, caste composition and market access
Key Findings
Scale of Inequality:
- Average village land Gini coefficient (on scale 0-100) reaches around 71 out of 100 (including landless households)
- 46% of rural households are landless
- Top 10% own 44%, top 5% own 32% and top 1% own 18% of total land area
- Diversity of land inequality across Indian states is almost as large as between countries at the world level
- On average, the largest single landholder controls ~12% of village land; in some villages, a single owner controls more than half of all agricultural land
Role of Agricultural Productivity:
- Villages with more favourable agro-ecological conditions tend to have greater land concentration — benefiting large landowners disproportionately
Colonial Legacy:
- Areas under landlord-based colonial land tenure systems show higher land concentration today
- Villages under direct British colonial rule have higher land inequality compared to those under Indian princely rulers
Social Stratification:
- Villages with higher shares of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) exhibit higher rates of landlessness
- Notable exception: Kerala and West Bengal, long governed by left-wing parties, show different patterns
Regional Disparities:
- Highest Inequality: Kerala (Land Gini coefficient at 90).
- Lowest Inequality: Karnataka and Rajasthan (Land Gini coefficients below 65).
- Rates of Landlessness: Punjab highest at 73%.
Market Access:
- Proximity to towns, roads and markets is insufficient to overturn deeply embedded land inequality shaped by historical and natural factors
Public Goods Provision:
- Villages with moderate inequality receive more public goods
- Where a single landlord dominates, public goods provision tends to be lower
About World Inequality Lab
- It is research body associated with economists including Thomas Piketty, focusing on measuring and analysing economic inequality globally.
- It is known for publishing the World Inequality Report and maintaining the World Inequality Database (WID).