62 Extremely Rich People Are Worth as Much as Half of Humanity Combined, Study Says

February 29, 2016

The wealth disparity between the world’s richest and poorest has worsened to the point that 62 of the richest people in the world now own as much as the poorest half of the planet combined, according to Oxfam.

Their report titled “An Economy for the 1%” reveals that the poorest half of the world’s 3.6 billion people has become poorer by 38% — a loss of $1 trillion — since 2010, while the richest 62 people have increased in wealth by more than half a trillion dollars to now own $1.76 trillion.

With the assistance of global tax havens, the richest 1% have enabled themselves to have even more wealth than the remaining 99%. A staggering $7.6 trillion was kept hidden by the wealthy with the help of the tax haven network.

The first step in solving this crisis in wealth distribution, according to Oxfam GB chief executive Mark Goldring, is a crackdown on these global tax havens.

“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,” he said.

“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.

“We need to end the era of tax havens which has allowed rich individuals and multinational companies to avoid their responsibilities to society by hiding ever increasing amounts of money offshore.”

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