World's richest one per cent will soon own same as poorest 99 per cent

A new report warns that the world's richest one per cent will soon boast more wealth than the poorest 99 per cent.

The richest one per cent currently own 48 per cent of the wealth but Oxfam forecasts that this figure will exceed 50 per cent for the first time next year.

Oxfam says that rising inequality is holding back the fight against global poverty at a time when more than one billion people still live on less than $1.25 (83p) a day.

This chart, from Statista, shows how the combined wealth of the world's richest 80 people surpasses that of the poorest 50 per cent of the entire world's population.

Those in the richest one per cent meanwhile command an average wealth of $2.7m (£1.5m) per adult.

The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast. Failure to tackle inequality will set the fight against poverty back decades.

• Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam

The figures are based on Credit Suisse's latest global wealth report and are being released today ahead of the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Oxfam is using the summit as an opportunity to press for new measures to tackle poverty, including a clampdown on tax evasion and providing a living wage for all workers.

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