A new Oxfam report has revealed how much has changed in terms of the richest and poorest people worldwide. The report shows that the 62 richest billionaires in the world has riches that would equal to the poorer half of the world's population.
According to Oxfam, "the wealth of the poorest 50% dropped by 41% between 2010 and 2015, despite an increase in the global population of 400m. In the same period, the wealth of the richest 62 people increased by $500bn (£350bn) to $1.76tn."
The statistics of the richest people reaching the same wealth as the poorest 50% was 388 in 2010, 80 in 2014, and then 62 in 2015. They said that their prediction -- the world's richest 1% would own the same wealth as the poorest 50% by 2016 -- had become a reality a year earlier.
Mark Goldring, the Oxfam GB chief executive, said: "It is simply unacceptable that the poorest half of the world population owns no more than a small group of the global super-rich - so few, you could fit them all on a single coach.
"World leaders' concern about the escalating inequality crisis has so far not translated into concrete action to ensure that those at the bottom get their fair share of economic growth. In a world where one in nine people go to bed hungry every night, we cannot afford to carry on giving the richest an ever bigger slice of the cake."
Among those who have called for action to reverse this trend in equality are Pope Francis and managing director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde. However, despite these people's efforts to call for action, Oxfam believes that words had not been translated into action.
Oxfam believes that a crackdown on tax dodging, higher investment in public services, and higher wages for the low paid are the three important things that could help decrease this great divide.
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