Richest 1% have 82% of global wealth: Report

› Something is very wrong with a global economy that allows the one percent to enjoy the lion’s share of increases in wealth while the poorest half of humanity misses out

MARK GOLDRING, Oxfam GB chief executive

LONDON: As Prime Minster Narend ra Mo di and other world leaders gather at the Swiss resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum, an Oxford-based antipoverty charity has reported that last year ,82% of the global wealth went to the rich est 1% of the population.

Titled Reward Work, Not Wealth, the Oxfam report on global economic trends, released on Monday, said the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half across the world saw their wealth flatline, while the biggest gains were made by billionaires.

In India, the richest 1% grossed 73% of the wealth generated in 2017 while the wealth of the poor est half of Indians--some 670 million -- rose by only 1%.

According to the report, roughly a third of billionaire wealth is derived from inheritance, and over the next 20 years, 500 of the world’s richest people will hand over $2.4 trillion to their heirs – a sum that is larger than India’s GDP.

The wealth of billionaires is estimated to have risen by an average of 13% a year between 2006 and 2015 — six times faster than wages of ordinary workers. It takes just four days for a CEO of one of the world’s five biggest fashion retailers to earn as much as a Bangladeshi garment worker will earn in her entire lifetime.

“Last year saw the biggest increase in billionaires in history, one more every two days. Billionaires saw their wealth increase by $762 billion in 12 months. This huge increase could have ended global extreme poverty seven times over ,” the report said.

In India, those living on $2 (Rs 127) a day have a mortality rate three times the global average, the report said.

Oxfam said over 70,000 people were surveyed in 10 countries across five continents, including India. Most respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the gap between rich and poor in their country is too large.

“Nearly two-thirds of all respondents think the gap between the rich and the poor needs tobe addressed ur gently or very urgent ly. And many have an even stronger sense of urgency: 73% in India ,79% in South Africa, 85% in Nigeria, and 93% in Mexico believe this,” the report said.

Moreover, most people think governments have a central role in addressing the wealth gap.