Abstract: This paper provides a broad overview of the issue of rising inequality, and it builds an international and multidimensional taxonomy of economic inequality. We use a hierarchical cluster analysis, which enables us to identify five groups of countries with distinctive economic inequality features, which show that, despite national and regional specificities, both developed and developing countries face important hurdles in reducing social and economic disparities. The resulting classification may be useful to map out the various national realities of economic inequality across countries. The results suggest that a one-size-fits-all international strategy should be avoided in order to address the different patterns of inequality that we have identified around the world. Still, it is crucial to acknowledge the importance of the particularities of each cluster and each geographic region regarding a complex and multidimensional phenomenon, which has become a global challenge for the 21st century.