Revealed: The richest 1% will own half the world’s wealth by 2016

The wealthiest 1% of the world will soon own more than the rest of the planet’s population, according to a new report from the charity Oxfam.
The study shows that the proportion of the world’s wealth owned by the richest 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% in 2014, and Oxfam says it expects that to increase to more than 50% by 2016.

The news comes just days ahead of the World Economic Forum, which sees political and business leaders from around the world convene in Davos, Switzerland.

Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam’s executive director, is set to co-chair the event, and wants to use the charity’s role to highlight inequality and demand action. She said the scale of global inequality was “simply staggering” in a statement.

“It is time our leaders took on the powerful vested interests that stand in the way of a fairer and more prosperous world,” she said.

“Business as usual for the elite isn’t a cost free option – failure to tackle inequality will set the fight against poverty back decades. The poor are hurt twice by rising inequality – they get a smaller share of the economic pie and because extreme inequality hurts growth, there is less pie to be shared around.”

The report outlines several measures it would like to see governments implement. These include promoting women’s rights and economic equality, paying workers a living wage, sharing the tax burden fairly and closing tax loopholes.

Oxfam’s research also shows how the richest billionaires’ fortunes have increased over the past year, with Warren Buffet’s fortune growing 9% from $53.5 billion to $58.2 billion and Michael Bloomberg’s rising 22% from $27 billion to $33 billion.

The charity also says that the 80 richest people on the planet own the same amount as the poorest 50%, or 3.5 billion people.

Much of the report is concerned with lobbying, and it says that “during 2013, companies from the financial and insurance sectors spent $550 million on lobbying policymakers in Washington and Brussels alone.”

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to use his penultimate State of the Union speech on Tuesday to address inequality and call for tax increases on the wealthy.

-mashable