World’s 62 richest people own as much as poorest 3.6bn

Growing inequality means that the world’s 62 wealthiest people own as much as the poorest half of the planet’s population — approximately 3.6 billion people — according to a new report from Oxfam.

The richest 1% — around 73m out of the world’s 7.3bn people — own as much as everyone else put together.

Some of this is facilitated by governments aiding the wealthiest people and corporations to evade paying tax, with Ireland listed as one of the 11 tax havens most culpable.