How Close are You to Being in The Richest 1%

The rich are getting richer. This old adage has never been so relevant as it is today. The richest one percent of the world’s population is set to own more than half of all wealth globally.  Does this surprise you? Not really. We are all familiar with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg. What may surprise you is how close you are to being considered one of the rich.

Global wealth has increased to $262 trillion this year.  If we averaged that over the world’s population, that comes to $56,000 for each adult.

• you need just $3650 (less debts) to consider yourself among the richest half of the world’s population (high five).
• you need just $77,000 to be among the richest 10% and,
• $798,000 puts you in the top 1%

If we looked at things purely based on averages, it would appear that the world wealth is in good shape. However, these riches are not so evenly distributed. More than 32 million people are in the top 1% and currently own 41% of total wealth. Whereas, Almost 69% of the world’s population owns just 3% of total wealth. The most elite, those in the 0.01%, are enjoying the most growth in their wealth portfolio.

Oxfam, an organization that, amoung other things, tracks International inequality, reports that 1 billion people in the world earn just $1.25 per day.  One in nine people do not have enough to eat each day. The gap between the richest people in the world and the rest is widening. Earlier this year, Oxfam made headline news when it announced that by 2016, the richest one percent will own more than half of all wealth globally. ‘Do we really want to live in a world where the one percent own more than the rest of us combined?’ – Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam’s executive director.

Oxfam suggests that there are a few things we can hope for that would even out wealth in the world :

Universal Health Care

Education for everyone!

Minimum wage standards and work towards a living wage for all workers.

Share the global tax burden.

Clamp down on tax dodgers.

By working towards a more global community, Oxfam hopes to share the world’s wealth. Certainly something to move towards for the good of all.

Source: The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail