Monday, January 18, 2016

That 1% again

 The richest 1% now has as much wealth as the rest of the world combined, according to Oxfam. It uses data from Credit Suisse from October for the report. Credit Suisse says its estimates of the proportion of wealth held by the 10% and the 1% is "likely to err on the low side". Oxfam also calculated that the richest 62 people in the world had as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population. "Instead of an economy that works for the prosperity of all, for future generations, and for the planet, we have instead created an economy for the 1%," Oxfam's report says.

It takes cash and assets worth $68,800 (£48,300) to get into the top 10%, and $760,000 (£533,000) to be in the 1%. That means that if you own an average house in London without a mortgage, you are probably in the 1%.


Oxfam said that the 62 richest people having as much wealth as the poorest 50% of the population is a remarkable concentration of wealth, given that it would have taken 388 individuals to have the same wealth as the bottom 50% in 2010.


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