Larry Elliott reports for The Guardian:
The vast and growing gap between rich and poor has been laid bare in a new Oxfam report showing that the 62 richest billionaires own as much wealth as the poorer half of the world’s population.
Timed to coincide with this week’s gathering of many of the super-rich at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, the report calls for urgent action to deal with a trend showing that 1% of people own more wealth than the other 99% combined.
Oxfam said that the wealth of the poorest 50% dropped by 41% between 2010 and 2015, despite an increase in the global population of 400m. In the same period, the wealth of the richest 62 people increased by $500bn (£350bn) to $1.76tn.
The charity said that, in 2010, the 388 richest people owned the same wealth as the poorest 50%. This dropped to 80 in 2014 before falling again in 2015.
- Oxfam says wealth of richest 1% equal to other 99%
- Study highlights massive global wealth divide ahead of Davos
- Tax dodging by the superrich is driving global inequality, Oxfam says
- TTIP, Tax Havens Contribute to Extreme Global Inequality, Says Oxfam
- Rich and poor: Will the inequality gap ever be bridged?
- This Is the Year the Top 1% Take Control of the Majority of Everything
- Silicon Valley tech firms exacerbating income inequality, World Bank warns
Filed under: Banking/Finance, Charity, Corporations, Financial Crisis, Global Elite/TCC, Tax Havens, TPP/TTIP, World Economic Forum