The middle class: does size really matter?

Alarm over the 'shrinking' middle class hides a more important truth about the state of income inequality

The middle class might be developing a bit of a complex about its size. After all, rarely a month goes by without a headlines about how it is "shrinking". Sometimes the preferred verb is "hollowing out", but that doesn't sound too great either.

The latest shrinkage alert comes from the OECD, in a new report showing that the middle class now accounts for just 61% of the populations of member countries, down from 64% in the mid-80s.

Related: Millennials being squeezed out of middle class, says OECD