This Is The No.1 Economic Trend To Watch Going Into 2015

WEF/F. Alvaredo, A. B. Atkinson, T. Piketty and E. Saez, 2013. 'The World Top Incomes Database

The World Economic Forum is out with its new Outlook on the Global Agenda 2015.

Deepening income inequality tops the list of economic trends to watch, as chosen by WEF's survey respondents (about 1,750 people from a network of "members and alumni of the Global Agenda Councils, as well as Young Global Leaders and Global Shapers").

The US tops the list of most unequal of the world's rich nations, and has surged ahead of the rest mostly in the last 30 years (see the above chart). However, the survey respondents don't think that North America will be the most affected by deepening inequality over the next year. That honor goes to Asia:

What should be done about inequality? The report doesn't get into specifics, but it does say this: "We know what we need: inclusive economies in which men and women have access to decent employment, legal identification, financial services, infrastructure and social protection, as well as societies where all people can contribute and participate in global, national and local governance."

Here are the rest of the top trends:

WEF

Of note, last year's #1 trend, "rising societal tensions in the Middle East and North Africa" has completely dropped off the list (or, debatably, has been folded into this year's #8, "intensifying nationalism.")