Oxfam says 'obscene inequality' means only 62 people have half of the planet's wealth

Oxfam says that just 62 people own the equivalent wealth of half of the wealth in the world.

It has found that the wealth of the poorer half of the world's population has dropped by 41% since 2010.

The findings have been released ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, where 40 heads of state, including the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, will gather to meet with senior leaders from the business world.

Oxfam Ireland's chief executive Jim Clarken says politicians can be blamed for such an uneven distribution of wealth.

He said: "62 people now own the same amount of wealth as almost 3.6 billion people. This runaway inequality is out of control, it's obscene.

"It's not inevitable, it has resulted from policy decisions across the world that have protected these people and everybody else has been affected.

"We haven't created a global economy that works for everybody."