Richest 1% to own more than half world’s wealth by 2016

As global movers and shakers head to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Oxfam is warning that an increasing wealth disparity is “leaving ordinary people voiceless and their interests uncared for.”

The collective wealth of the world’s richest 1 percent will exceed that of the other 99 percent of the global population next year, unless steps are taken to address the inequality, Oxfam warned ahead of the annual Davos meeting.

Oxfam, an anti-poverty charity, released a report titled, “Wealth: Having It All and Wanting More,” which reveals that the richest 1 percent, who had an average wealth of $2.7 million per adult in 2014, have seen their share of global wealth soar yet further, increasing from 44 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2014.

At this rate, the richest 1 percent, who became the focal point of public outrage during the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests, will own more than 50 percent of the world’s wealth by 2016.

Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima, who will co-chair the Davos symposium, said she will draw attention to the grim fact that “one in nine people do not have enough to eat and more than a billion people still live on less than $1.25 a day,” she told The Guardian.

Reuters / Eric Gaillard

January 19, 2015

Wealth: Having It All and Wanting More

Global wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small wealthy elite. These wealthy individuals have generated and sustained their vast riches through their interests and activities in a few important economic sectors, including finance and insurance and pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

Companies from these sectors spend millions of dollars every year on lobbying to create a policy environment that protects and enhances their interests further. The most prolific lobbying activities in the US are on budget and tax issues; public resources that should be directed to benefit the whole population, rather than reflect the interests of powerful lobbyists.

This briefing explains Oxfam’s methodology and data sources and updates key inequality statistics, such as Oxfam’s frequently cited fact in 2014: ‘85 billionaires have the same wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population.’

Deborah Hardoon, Senior Researcher, Oxfam GB

19 January 2015