Oxfam report suggests richest 1% will own more than the 99% by 2016

The richest 1% of people in the world will have more wealth than all the rest of us combined by next year if the current inequality trend continues, a new report from Oxfam has suggested.

The wealthiest 80 people in the top 1% have a collective worth of more than $1.3tn — the same amount shared by the poorest half of the global population, or 3.5bn people.

Last year, the richest 1% saw their net worth rise to 48% of the world’s wealth, from 44% in 2009. If this rate continues they will control more than half the world’s wealth by the end of 2015.