Richest 1% own more than the rest - Oxfam

The richest 1 percent of the world's population now own more than the rest of us combined, aid group Oxfam said Monday, on the eve of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

"Runaway inequality has created a world where 62 people own as much wealth as the poorest half of the world's population - a figure that has fallen from 388 just five years ago," the anti-poverty agency said in its report published ahead of the annual gathering of the world's financial and political elites in Davos.

The report, "An Economy for the 1%," states that women are disproportionately affected by global inequality.

"One of the other key trends behind rising inequality set out in Oxfam International's report is the falling share of national income going to workers in almost all developed and most developing countries ... The majority of low paid workers around the world are women."

Although world leaders have increasingly talked about the need to tackle inequality, "the gap between the richest and the rest has widened dramatically in the past 12 months," Oxfam said.

Oxfam's prediction, made ahead of last year's Davos meeting, that the richest 1 percent would soon own more than the rest of us, "actually came true in 2015," it said...
 AFP
newz.gr
18/1/16