Glaring Rich-Poor Gap: 8 Billionaires Own as Much Wealth as Half the World
Last year 62 people on the planet owned as much wealth as the bottom half of the population.
Just eight men now own as much wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorer half of the population.
Oxfam, an international confederation of 18 non-governmental organizations, published their findings on Monday which also found that the world's 10 biggest corporations together have a revenue greater than the 180 poorest countries combined.
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The anti-poverty organization released its report to coincide with the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which will be attended by political and global elites from across the world.
The report, An Economy for the 99%, discovered that the 8 richest men in the world, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, have a net combined worth of $426 billion which is equal to the combined wealth of 3.6 billion people. The list was devised based on information obtained from the Swiss bank Credit Suisse as well as the Forbes' billionaires list published in 2016.
"It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day," said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, who will be attending the meeting in Davos. "Inequality is trapping hundreds of millions in poverty; it is fracturing our societies and undermining democracy."
The members of Oxfam have warned global leaders to take measures to reduce this wealth-disparity as a failure to do so could incite radical political changes similar to the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President and Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
Last year, Oxfam had reported that 62 billionaires were as wealthy as the world's poorest population. The steep decline seen in this year's number is attributed to new information which shows that poverty in China and India, and the subsequent rich-poor gap, is far worse than previously imagined.
"While one in nine people on the planet will go to bed hungry tonight, a small handful of billionaires have so much wealth they would need several lifetimes to spend it. The fact that a super-rich elite are able to prosper at the expense of the rest of us at home and overseas shows how warped our economy has become," Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam GB, told The Guardian.
The 8 richest people in the world have been identified are Bill Gates ($75 billion, source of wealth Microsoft); Amancio Ortega ($67 billion, Zara); Warren Buffett ($60.8 billion, Berkshire Hathaway); Carlos Slim Helu ($50 billion, Telecom); Jeff Bezos ($45.2 billion, Amazon); Mark Zuckerberg ($44.6 billion, Facebook); Larry Ellison ($43.6 billion, Oracle); and Michael Bloomberg ($40 billion, Bloomberg LP), reports USA Today.
The report also added that the incomes of the richest 1% -- who own more wealth than the rest of the population since 2015 -- grew by $11,800 between 1988 and 2011 while the incomes of the poorest 10% increased by just $65 in that period.
