Cities offer unmatched opportunities for innovation, education, and access to employment and vibrant activities. But cities are also facing major challenges linked to their success – including a lack of housing affordability, congestion, and indeed, wide inequalities, especially in the largest cities. Failing to foster economic growth that creates opportunities for everyone can harm social cohesion and lead to unrest and diminished trust in democracy.
While the largest metropolitan regions have benefited from stronger growth than other regions, they are also often homes to the widest inequalities. In three quarters of the 24 OECD countries with available data, capital-city regions were more unequal than countries as a whole.
Inequality in cities is multidimensional and goes beyond income inequality. People in disadvantaged neighbourhoods often have lower access to good-quality housing, jobs and public services.
