The wealth of just eight of the world's wealthiest people equals that of 50 per cent of the world population.
Australia's two richest billionaires have more money than the bottom 20 per cent of the population put together.
And India’s richest 1 per cent now hold a huge 58 per cent of the country’s total wealth.
These are the startling figures revealed by international aid agency Oxfam's latest study, calling the widening global divide "obscene".
The world's richest men are worth more than $620 billion.
That's roughly the same as half the world's population.
In Australia, the divide is just as stark.
Our two richest billionaires, Gina Rinehart and Harry Triguboff alone, have as much money as the poorest 20 per cent of their fellow citizens put together, although their charitable support is also notable.
In the report titled ‘An economy for the 99 per cent’, Oxfam said it is time to build a human economy that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few.
It says there are 84 billionaires in India, with a collective wealth of USD 248 billion, led by Mukesh Ambani (USD 19.3 billion), Dilip Shanghvi (USD 16.7 billion) and Azim Premji (USD 15 billion). The total Indian wealth in the country stood at USD 3.1 trillion.
The total global wealth in the year was USD 255.7 trillion, of which about USD 6.5 trillion was held by billionaires, led by Bill Gates (USD 75 billion), Amancio Ortega (USD 67 billion) and Warren Buffett (USD 60.8 billion).
The report also states that since 2015, the richest 1 per cent has owned more wealth than the rest of the planet.
“Over the next 20 years, 500 people will hand over USD 2.1 trillion to their heirs — a sum larger than the GDP of India, a country of 1.3 billion people,” Oxfam said.
The study findings showed that the poorest half of the world has less wealth than had been previously thought while over the last two decades, the richest 10 per cent of the population in China, Indonesia, Laos, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have seen their share of income increase by more than 15 per cent.
