What Do We Owe to Our Grandchildren?

Coming back from an extended conference on gross national happiness in Bhutan, which is one of the first carbon-negative countries in the world, I became aware that intergenerational justice may be one of the most important moral questions we face today.

- ANDREW SHENG

The world is drowning in debt. According to the IMF, global debt amounted to US$250 trillion in 2023, or 237 percent of GDP, with global private debt at more than US$150 trillion or 143 percent of GDP.

If global private wealth is now estimated at over $450 trillion, is debt of $250 trillion seriously a problem? It is, if net wealth is distributed unevenly. Worldwide net private wealth stood at $454.4 trillion in 2022. The highest wealth rung, or 1.1 percent of the world adult population, controlled $208.3 trillion in wealth, or 45.8 percent of the global total. Wealth is not only concentrated—it is concentrating as the rich get richer. So when GDP is rising and markets are hitting record highs, most people are not happy because of perceived income and wealth inequity.

Wealth is, of course, passed from generation to generation. But with the gradual dismantling of death duties in many countries, and tax cuts for the rich, such as in America, wealth has been retained in wealthy hands. The UBS Global Wealth Report 2025 forecasted a total global wealth transfer of over USD 83 trillion within the next 20–25 years. Some USD 9 trillion of this will be horizontal and over USD 74 trillion will be vertical, between generations, i.e., roughly 12 percent. In other words, wealth is less distributed widely, but more down to successors and heirs.