Richest 62 people hold same wealth as half the world: report

·18 Jan 2016

A new report by Oxfam, ahead of the World Economic Forum meeting being held of Davos this week, claims that the world’s 62 richest people own the same wealth as half the world.

Runaway inequality has created a world where 62 people own as much as the poorest half of the world’s population, the group said.

According to Oxfam, an economy for the 1% shows that the wealth of the poorest half of the world’s population – that’s 3.6 billion people – has fallen by a trillion dollars since 2010.

“This 41% drop has occurred despite the global population increasing by around 400 million people during that period,” it said.

Meanwhile the wealth of the richest 62 people has increased by more than half a trillion dollars to $1.76 trillion.

The levels of inequality have become significantly worse over the years. In 2010, the same measure of wealth showed that 388 billionaires held the same wealth as half the world.

By 2014 this moved to only 80 individuals – and now it’s at 62. According to Oxfam’s projections, at currently levels, by 2022 only a handful of billionaires will hold the same wealth as the world’s poorest half.

“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,” said Oxfam GB chief executive, Mark Goldring.

“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.”

World and business leaders are meeting in Davos this week to discuss matters of global importance. Poverty is a common theme that comes up in discussion, as well as ways to combat it.

However, the meeting has drawn criticism as a “talk shop” that draws no solid solutions, while being held at a luxury resort, costing as much as $50,000 to attend.