Global wealth inequality has reached staggering proportions with 1 in 9 people not getting enough to eat and over a billion on less than $ 1.25 a day.
According to a report by Oxfam released on the eve of the Global Economic Forum opening in Davos on January 21, if wealth concentration grows at the present rate, in two years 1 per cent of the global population will earn more than the remaining 99 per cent.
“Data from Credit Suisse shows that since 2010, the richest 1% of adults in the world have been increasing their share of total global wealth,” Oxfam’s report entitled “Having it All and Wanting More” said.
“In 2010, the richest 80 people in the world had a net wealth of $1.3 tn. By 2014, the 80 people who top the Forbes rich list had a collective wealth of $1.9 tn; an increase of $600 bn in just 4 years, or 50% in nominal terms,” the report notes.
The poorest half of the world has seen an absolute decline in their share of the world’s wealth since 2010.
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, and co-chair the Davos event in a press statement said: “In the past 12 months we have seen world leaders from President Obama to Christine Lagarde talk more about tackling extreme inequality but we are still waiting for many of them to walk the talk. It is time our leaders took on the powerful vested interests that stand in the way of a fairer and more prosperous world.”
Of the 1,645 people listed by Forbes as being billionaires, 20 per cent have made their billions from insurance and financial sectors.
Two Indians figure in the 10 wealthiest from the Forbes list, who have made their money from the pharma and healthcare sectors. They are Dilip Shanghvi, who owns Sun Pharmaceuticals and is worth $ 12.8 billion, and the London-based Cyrus Poonawalla whose personal network of $ 4.9 billion has come from his vaccine industry.
The international agency has called for governments to adopt a 7-point programme to address the problem of staggering inequality. They are to prevent tax dodging, invest in free public services like health and education, spread the tax burden to the rich, introduce both minimum wage legislation, and equal pay legislation for women, and ensure safety nets for the poorest.
