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.

Mon, 19 Jan, 2015 - 00:00

Kelly O'Brien

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.

The research, published ahead of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, shows the vast majority of individuals (80%) have just 5.5% of the world’s wealth. More than 1bn people live on less than €1.07 a day.

According to Forbes, more than a third of the 1,645 billionaires listed inherited some or all of their fortune. The three richest billionaires are Warren Buffett ($58.2bn), Michael Bloomberg ($33bn), and Carl Icahn ($24.5bn).

Chief executive of Oxfam Ireland Jim Clarken said: “The World Economic Forum previously identified economic inequality as a major risk to human progress and our new research shows it is getting even worse. But inequality is not inevitable — it is the result of policy choices.

“Oxfam is asking the Taoiseach to use his trip to Davos to drive concrete discussion about tackling inequality.”