That’s right; the world’s 62 richest people are as wealthy as 3.6 billion people combined.
A report by Oxfam has found that the 62 richest people in the world have as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population combined.
The report, titled Economy for the 1%, which deliberately coincides with this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, found that 1% of the world’s population owns more wealth than the other 99% combined and that the wealth of the poorest half of humanity is decreasing on an annual basis.
The Oxfam report found that the wealth of the poorest 50% of the world’s population dropped by 41% – approximately a trillion US dollars – between 2010 and 2015 and in the same period, the accumulated wealth of the world’s 62 richest people has increased by $500 billion to $1.76 trillion.
Commenting on the figures in the report, Oxfam Great Britain chief executive Mark Goldring said: “It is simply unacceptable that the poorest half of the world population owns no more than a small group of the global super-rich – so few, you could fit them all on a single coach.
Pic via oxfam.org.uk
“World leaders’ concern about the escalating inequality crisis has so far not translated into concrete action to ensure that those at the bottom get their fair share of economic growth. In a world where one in nine people go to bed hungry every night we cannot afford to carry on giving the richest an ever bigger slice of the cake.
“We need to end the era of tax havens which has allowed rich individuals and multinational companies to avoid their responsibilities to society by hiding ever increasing amounts of money offshore.”
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