Surveys suggest Czechs significantly underestimate wealth inequality

People perceive the gap between Czechia's richest and poorest as being smaller than it actually is, two studies on the perception of wealth and income inequality conducted by the Research Institute of Labour and Social Affairs suggest. Respondents estimated that the richest fifth of the population owned less than half of the total property in the country and the poorest fifth owned about five percent, while in reality, the richest segment of society owns four-fifths of the property and the poorest only 0.2 percent.

The survey respondents were also asked how wealth should be distributed amongst the population in an ideal world, with the results indicating that people thought the richest fifth of society should get a third of the total property and the poorest fifth more than a tenth, with the remaining almost three-fifths going to the middle classes.

The authors said the results showed that people significantly underestimate wealth inequality.