Sustainable Development Goal 10 (Goal 10 or SDG 10) is about reduced inequality and is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The full title is: “Reduce inequality within and among countries”.

The Goal has ten targets to be achieved by 2030. Progress towards targets will be measured by indicators. The first seven targets are “outcome targets”: Reduce income inequalities; promote universal social, economic and political inclusion; ensure equal opportunities and end discrimination; adopt fiscal and social policies that promotes equality; improved regulation of global financial markets and institutions; enhanced representation for developing countries in financial institutions; responsible and well-managed migration policies. The other three targets are “means of achievement” targets: Special and differential treatment for developing countries; encourage development assistance and investment in least developed countries; reduce transaction costs for migrant remittances.

Target 10.1 is to “sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average”. This goal, known as “shared prosperity”, is complementing SDG 1, the eradication of extreme poverty, and it is relevant for all countries in the world. In 73 countries during the period 2012–2017, the bottom 40 per cent of the population saw its incomes grow. Still, in all countries with data, the bottom 40 per cent of the population received less than 25 per cent of the overall income or consumption.

Inequality exist in various forms, such as economic, sex, disability, race, social inequality, and different forms of discrimination.

Issues associated with health, pollution, and environmental justices are often inseparable with inequality. Sometimes these issues also associated with indigenous and aboriginal communities, ethnic minorities and communities of low socio-economic status (SES). Studies of environmental justice shows these communities are irregularly likely to live in environments with higher risk of exposure to pollution and toxic contamination, which possess long-term health and environmental threats.

Globalization is also accompanied with migration, displacement and dispossession, and this often-increased vulnerability of marginalized communities and groups, which negatively shaped their prospects for globalization and emancipation and widened inequality at the meantime. Efforts are still needed to improve the policy measures for orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility.

There are also association between inequality and mental and physical health in various forms, such as status anxiety/competition, social capital, social embeddedness and cohesion.