Research by the human rights watchdog found that the eight richest men on the planet have a collective worth of US$426 billion.
This includes six American businessmen, including Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon creator Jeff Bezos and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who remains the world’s richest man.
By contrast, the combined fortunes of 3.6 billion of the world’s poorest inhabitants adds up to a just US$409 billion.
The figures showed the gap between rich and poor is far greater than had been feared. It has also pointed to a growing discontent with mainstream politics around the world.
The report was released on the eve of the 47th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. The report by Oxfam was titled “An economy for the 99 per cent”.
Inequality will be among the issues topping the agenda as 3000 members of the world’s business and political elite meet in Davos
The
theme of this year’s summit is
“Responsive and responsible leadership.”In its report Oxfam called for an increase in tax rates targeting rich individuals and cooperations. It also highlighted the need for a global agreement to end competition between countries to lower corporate tax rates.
The report found that between 1988 and 2011, the incomes of the poorest 10 per cent increased by just US$65, while the incomes of the richest one per cent grew by US$11,800 - 182 times as much.
Oxfam said the world’s richest one per cent had as much wealth as the rest of the world combined.
THE RICHEST MEN IN THE WORLD
These eight billionaires have a combined wealth of 3.6 billion of the poorest people on the planet, according to Oxfam:
| 1. BILL GATES | US founder of Microsoft Corp - net worth US $75 billion |
| 2. AMANCIO ORTEGA | Founder of Spain’s Inditex, Zara fashion chain - net worth US$67 billion |
| 3. WARREN BUFFETT | US CEO, largest shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway - net worth US$60.8 billion |
| 4. CARLOS SLIM HELU | Owner of Mexico’s Grupo Carso - net worth US$50 billion |
| 5. JEFF BEZOS | US founder, chairman, CEO of Amazon - net worth: US$45.2 billion |
| 6. MARK ZUCKERBERG | US chairman, CEO, co-founder of Facebook - net worth US$44.6 billion |
| 7. LARRY ELLISON | US co-founder, CEO of Oracle - net worth US$43.6 billion |
| 8. MICHAEL BLOOMBERG | US founder, owner, CEO of Bloomberg LP - net worth: US$40 billion |
