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The 26 richest people in the world own as much as asset-wise as 3.8 billion other people in the world combined, approximately half of that possessed by all the poorest people on the planet.
According to a new study by development charity Oxfam, 2018 has been yet another year where the rich have become richer while the poor grow poor.
The world’s billionaires continue to grow roughly $2.5 billion richer each day.
The number of the world’s billionaires is growing, and so is the amount of wealth they possess.
The world’s 26 richest individuals are said to collectively hold a combined fortune of $1.4 trillion in 2018.
In 2018, the world’s richest saw their wealth increased by 12%, while the world’s poorest – half of the world’s population – saw their wealth declined by 11%.
The number of billionaires in the world has increased to 2208. The number of global billionaires has nearly doubled from where it was a decade ago.
The Oxfam report said that between 2017 2018, a new billionaire was created somewhere in the world every two days.
In the Oxfam study, they used of the names found on Forbes list of billionaires. The names included the world’s richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose fortune is currently estimated at somewhere around $112 billion. He was followed by the world’s second richest man, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Brookshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Just these four men alone possess a combined wealth of $357 billion.
“In many countries, a decent education or quality healthcare has become a luxury only the rich can afford,” Oxfam said. “Every day, 10,000 people die because they lack access to affordable healthcare.”
