According to a report by anti-poverty charity organization Oxfam America, the wealthiest 1 percent of people will possess global assets in excess of assets possessed by the rest of earth’s 7.12 billion people by next year.
The percentage of global wealth owned by the richest 1 percent rose from 46 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2014, and it will rise to over 50 percent by 2016, Oxfam reported.
“The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast,” said Oxfam Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, who is a co-chair of the upcoming World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which will be attended by a record 300 heads of state.
Oxfam also reported that 80 percent of the world’s population currently owns just 5.5 percent of global wealth. This equates to under $4,000 per person, while the average wealth of the top 1 percent is $2.7 million. Further down the line, 1 in 9 people cannot afford enough food for themselves, and over 1 billion people have less than $1.25 per day to live on.
The wealth of the richest people continues to rise, Oxfam reported. In 2014, the 80 richest people had the same wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion people, representing a doubling of the wealth of the richest 80 since 2009.
“Do we really want to live in a world where the 1 percent own more than the rest of us combined?” Byanyima asked.
“The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast.”
Oxfam’s report comes just ahead of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
By Sid Douglas
Photo: Oxfam
COMMENTS
Mario Maritano ·
Mario Mariatno ·
Mario Maritano ·
Mario Maritano ·
Fuzza Majumula ·