The proportion of global wealth maintained by the billionaires increased to a record during the Covid-19 crisis, according to a group founded by the French economist Thomas Piketty.
Around 2,750 billionaires control 3.5% of the wealth of the world, the global inequality based on Paris in a report on Tuesday said on Tuesday. That is an increase of 1% in 1995, with the fastest profits that come from the blow of the pandemic, the group said. The poorest half of the planet population has about 2% of its riches.
The findings of the study are added to a debate on the worsening of inequality during a public health crisis that dreamed developing economies, which are scarce vaccines, as well as financial resources to cushion the blow, even more than the Advanced. Within the rich world, also, financial and real estate markets have skyrocketed from the depths of last year’s fall, expanding domestic gaps.
These pandemic tendencies come after decades of politics that were often oriented towards people at the top, with the expectation that “dripping” and all others would also benefit, according to Lucas Chancel, one of the authors of the report.
“There really is this polarization at the top of a world that was already very unequal before the pandemic,” said Chancel, co-director of the World Inequality Laboratory, in an interview. He said that the billionaires accumulated 3.6 billion euros ($ 4.1 billion) of wealth during a crisis in which the World Bank considers that some 100 million people have fallen into extreme poverty.
‘Middle class is missing’
In most of the world, the richest 10% of people controls approximately 60% to 80% of wealth. But the report highlights some clear regional distinctions.
In general, the poorest countries have been reaching richer, but within developing nations, inequality has skyrocketed. The disparities of the same country now represent more than two thirds of global inequality, from about half in 2000, according to the laboratory.
Latin America and the Middle East are the most unequal regions of the world, with more than 75% of wealth in the hands of 10% higher, the report says. Russia and sub-Saharan Africa are not far away.
These pandemic tendencies come after decades of politics that were often oriented towards people at the top, with the expectation that “dripping” and all others would also benefit, according to Lucas Chancel, one of the authors of the report.
“There really is this polarization at the top of a world that was already very unequal before the pandemic,” said Chancel, co-director of the World Inequality Laboratory, in an interview. He said that the billionaires accumulated 3.6 billion euros ($ 4.1 billion) of wealth during a crisis in which the World Bank considers that some 100 million people have fallen into extreme poverty.
‘Middle class is missing’
In most of the world, the richest 10% of people controls approximately 60% to 80% of wealth. But the report highlights some clear regional distinctions.
In general, the poorest countries have been reaching richer, but within developing nations, inequality has skyrocketed. The disparities of the same country now represent more than two thirds of global inequality, from about half in 2000, according to the laboratory.
Latin America and the Middle East are the most unequal regions of the world, with more than 75% of wealth in the hands of 10% higher, the report says. Russia and sub-Saharan Africa are not far away.
Other emerging economies such as India still suffer from a “middle class lost,” Chancel said. “Colonial inequalities have been replaced by market inequality.”
The gaps of wealth are reflected in the larger carbon traces, too. In North America, for example, 10% higher issues an average of 73 metric tons per capita each year, compared to less than 10 tons for the poorest half.