World's Poorest Left Behind as Super-Rich get Richer!
“For every person with more than $30 million, there are over 4800 people living in extreme poverty[ii]. This gross inequality is a symptom of an unjust and unfair economic system that allows the rich to get richer at the expense of the poor” says Jenny Ricks of the Fight Inequality Alliance.
“Last year the wealth of the richest totalled $58.7 trillion, which is over 150 times the size of the economies of all of the world’s poorest countries combined. This shows the extent money and power are concentrated in the hands of the wealthiest few.”[iii]
The World Wealth Report launched today from Capgemini shows that times have never been better for the world’s wealthiest – since 2009 more than 4.5 million new millionaires have been created, rising to a total of 15.4 million millionaires across the world last year. Yet while the wealthy prosper, 702 million people living in extreme poverty[i] are being left behind due to a broken economic system, warned a global alliance of major organisations including ActionAid, Greenpeace International, International Trade Union Confederation and Oxfam.
The report also reflects on how Capgemini have failed to predict the growing anger across the world towards those with extreme wealth, faced with rapidly rising inequality and fuelled by scandals such as the Panama Papers revealing the scale of tax avoidance by very rich people.
“The global inequality crisis is undermining the struggle for a fairer and more sustainable world, trampling on the rights of women, workers, and the poorest families. Governments must act now to reverse cuts to public spending, privatisation, tax breaks for the wealthy and the race to the bottom on human rights.”
For more information please contact
- For interviews with FEMNET please contact Dinah Musindarwezo, Executive Director, director@femnet.or.ke +254 725766932 or Mildred Ngesa, Head of Communication, communication@femnet.or.ke +254 725766932
- For interviews with ActionAid, please contact Paul Dyett +44 (0)7722 136979 dyett@actionaid.org
- For interviews with Sharan Burrow, General Secretary International Trade Union Confederation, please contact Gemma Swart +32 479 06 41 63 or gemma.swart@ituc-csi.org
- For interviews with Oxfam International, please contact Anna Ratcliff, +44 (0) 7796993288, anna.ratcliff@oxfaminternational.org, @ratcliff_anna
Note to Editors
The Fight Inequality Alliance is a group of organisations working to fight inequality; committed to building a global movement to counter the excessive power and influence of the 1% and achieve a fairer and more sustainable world. The members of the Fight Inequality Alliance are ActionAid; ACT Alliance; Amnesty International; CIVICUS; FEMNET; Greenpeace International; International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Oxfam.
The World Wealth Report is released annually by Capgemini analysing high net worth individuals, their wealth and the global economic context www.worldwealthreport.com.
ANNEX – Regional data
- Global HNWI wealth expanded fourfold over the last 20 years to reach US$58.7 trillion in 2015.
- Against the backdrop of growing inequality in many countries, Asia-Pacific surpassed North America to become the region with the largest amount of HNWI wealth. Faltering growth in the Americas has slowed the overall rate of HNWI wealth expansion.
- Japan and China are the engines of both Asia-Pacific and global growth.
- Global HNWI wealth is projected to surpass US$100 trillion by 2025.
[i] 702 million people: estimated by the World Bank, Oct 2015, based on $1.90 extreme poverty line. Explained here: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2015/10/04/world-bank-forecasts-global-poverty-to-fall-below-10-for-first-time-major-hurdles-remain-in-goal-to-end-poverty-by-2030
[ii] This year’s World Wealth Report found that there were 145.2k Ultra High Net Worth Individuals with wealth of more than $30 million each in 2015. There were an estimated 702 million people in extreme poverty in 2015 (as above). This gives a ratio of more than 4800 to 1.
[iii] The World Wealth Report found that High Net Worth Individuals had a total wealth of $58.7 trillion in 2015. World Bank data shows that the total GDP of the poorest countries (31 countries in total which are classified as Low Income Countries by the World Bank) is $379.8 billion. http://data.worldbank.org/income-level/LIC This is a ratio of more than 150 to 1.
