Thursday, December 14, 2017

Inequality Figures

 UK’s 50,000 richest people have seen their share of the country’s wealth double since 1984.

The richest 0.1% of the world’s population have increased their combined wealth by as much as the poorest 50% – or 3.8 billion people – since 1980.

The richest 1% of the global population “captured” 27% of the world’s wealth growth between 1980 and 2016. 

And the richest of the rich increased their wealth by even more. The top 0.1% gained 13% of the world’s wealth.

And the top 0.001% – about 76,000 people – collected 4% of all the new wealth created since 1980.

The top 0.1% income group (about 7 million people) captured as much of the world’s growth since 1980 as the bottom half of the adult population.

Conversely, income growth has been sluggish or even nil for the population between the global bottom 50% and top 1%.

Wealth inequality had become “extreme” in Russia and the US. 

The US’s richest 1% accounted for 39% of the nation’s wealth in 2014 (the latest year available), up from 22% in 1980. Most of that increase in inequality was due to the rise of the top 0.1% wealth owners.

The world’s richest person is Amazon’s founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, who has a $98.8bn (£73.9bn) fortune, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index. Bezos, the biggest shareholder in Amazon, has seen his wealth increase by $33bn over the past year alone. Collectively, the world’s five richest people – Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Amancio Ortega, the owner of Zara, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg – hold $425bn of assets. That is equivalent to one-sixth of the UK’s GDP.

In the UK, the richest 1% control 22% of the country’s wealth, up from 15% in 1984. The very richest in the UK have seen a huge increase in their wealth. The top 0.1% – around 50,000 people – have seen their share of the nation’s wealth double from 4.5% in 1984 to 9% in 2013. 

The increase in the concentration of wealth in the last four decades is very much a phenomenon confined to the hands of the top 0.5% (the richest 250,000 Britons), and in particular the top 0.1% (the richest 50,000)

The richest people in the UK are the Hinduja family, who control a conglomerate of businesses including cars and banks, and are worth $15.4bn.

The bottom 90% of people in the UK had an average wealth of £68,000, compared with £321,000 among the richest 10% and the top 0.5%, who were worth £3.7m on average.

The top 10% receives about 55% of total income in Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa, and in the Middle East, the top 10% income share is typically over 60%.

The global top 1% income share could increase from nearly 20% today to more than 24% by 2050. In which case the global bottom 50% share could fall from 10% to less than 9%.

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