Over half of world's wealth to be held by richest 1% in 2016, says Oxfam

Oxfam, the anti-poverty charity, said on Monday that over half of the world's wealth will be owned by just one per cent of the population by 2015 as global inequality soars.

In a report released ahead of this week's annual meeting of the international elite at Davos in Switzerland, Oxfam said the top tier had seen their share of wealth increase from 44 per cent in 2009 to 48 per cent in 2014.

On current trends, the surge in their wealth will exceed 50 per cent in 2016.

Oxfam Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, who is co-chairing the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, said an explosion in inequality was holding back the fight against poverty.

"Do we really want to live in a world where the one per cent own more than the rest of us combined?" Byanyima said on Monday.

"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," she said.

Oxfam said it would call for action to tackle rising inequality at the Davos meeting, which starts on Wednesday, including a crackdown on tax dodging by corporations and progress towards a global deal on climate change.

The richest 80 individuals in the world had the same wealth as some 3.5 billion poorest people, constituting 50 per cent of the entire population, Oxfam said. This was an even bigger concentration at the top than a year ago, when half the world's wealth was in the hands of 85 of the ultra rich.

Members of the top 1 per cent had an average wealth of US $2.7 million per adult, Oxfam said.

The bulk of the world's remaining wealth was owned by the rest of the richest fifth, while the other 80 per cent shared just 5.5 per cent of the pot, equalling an average wealth of US $3,851 per adult, the charity said.

Oxfam used data from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Datebook, 2013 and 2014, and the Forbes' billionaires list to compile its research.

(Reuters)