A Rich Man’s World

Where’s Robin Hood when you need him? A new report by Swiss bank UBS and auditor PwC confirms that, as always, the rich continue to get richer. The only difference now is that Asian billionaires, mostly Chinese, outnumber their American counterparts. India, according to one rich list, now has over 100 dollar billionaires, the fourth highest total in the world. Of course, the increase in the number of billionaires dovetails with the growth in global inequality. In India, the 57 top billionaires in the country alone are as wealthy as the bottom 70% of the population.

$ 6 TRILLION

TOTAL WEALTH OF THE WORLD’S BILLIONAIRES IN 2016, ACCORDING TO UBS/ PWC— A RISE OF 17% IN ONE YEAR

27.7 MILLION

PEOPLE EMPLOYED BY BILLIONAIRES ON THE UBS/ PWC DATABASE; 75% OF ALL NEW BILLIONAIRES ARE ASIAN

100

BILLIONAIRES IN INDIA, SAY UBS/ PWC, ADDING 16 NEW BILLIONAIRES IN 2016. CHINA ADDED 67, TOTALLING 318

1,542

NUMBER OF BILLIONAIRES IN THE WORLD IN 2016. THE FORBES RICH LIST PUTS THE NUMBER FOR 2017 AT 2,043 AND TOTAL WEALTH AT $ 7.7 TRILLION

637

NUMBER OF ASIAN BILLIONAIRES, SAYS UBS/ PWC, COMPARED TO 563 IN THE US AND 342 IN EUROPE

58.4%

INDIA’S WEALTH CONTROLLED BY 1% OF ITS POPULATION, SAYS NGO OXFAM

12%

OF INDIAN INCOME BETWEEN 1980 AND 2014 EARNED BY 0.1% OF POPULATION. 11% EARNED BY BOTTOM 50%, SAYS ECONOMIST THOMAS PIKETTY