Oxfam warns wealth gap is spiralling out of control

The number of dollar billionaires in the world has more than doubled to 1,645 since the financial crisis of 2008, according to a report which warned that inequality between rich and poor is spiralling out of control.

Despite the austerity affecting ordinary people around the globe in the wake of the recession, the richest 85 billionaires saw their fortunes increase by a total of around £150bn (€190bn) over the past year — the equivalent of £415m a day or almost a third of a million pounds a minute, the report by development charity Oxfam found.

Research earlier this year found these 85 people had access to wealth equal to that of half the world’s population.