The richest people on Earth, who make up just 1% of the population, own more than the other 99%, according to Oxfam, a nonprofit that urges governments to step up efforts to reduce inequality.
In a report published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the organization cited data from Credit Suisse Group AG that the richest 1% owned most of the world's wealth in 2015.
In their report, Oxfam analysts also calculated that 62 people own the same amount of wealth as the 3.5 billion people who are the poorest half of the world's population, up from 388 five years ago.
Since 2010, the wealth of the wealthiest has grown 44% to $ 1.76 trillion, while the wealth of the poorest has declined 41% to just over $ 1 trillion.
The organization cites tax benefits available to the wealthiest stratum of the population, an increase in the gap between the highest and the lowest wages, and a reduction in the financial remuneration of workers as the reasons for the growing difference in wealth between the poor and the rich.
The organization uses these statistics to show that rising inequality is a threat to economic development and social cohesion.
These risks are already visible in countries as diverse as the United States to Spain, where voters are increasingly supporting populists, and growing inequality is sowing strife and conflict on the streets of Latin America and the Middle East.
“It is unacceptable for the poorest part of the population to own a fortune that does not exceed the fortune of a few dozen super-rich people who can fit on one bus,” says Vinnie Byanima, chief executive of Oxfam International. "The concerns of world leaders about growing inequality have yet to translate into concrete action."
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Oxfam notes in its report that governments need to take steps to reduce polarization, given the fact that tax-free jurisdictions, the so-called tax haven, help the richest people hide up to $ 7.6 trillion.
The organization notes that politicians need to agree at the global level to end the practice of using offshore accounts.