The 80 richest people who have as much money as the poorer half of humanity
Are the rich really getting richer and the poor getting poorer? This vague statement seems to be confirmed by a study by the international aid organization Oxfam. And not only that. The paper published in January 2015 called “Wealth: Having it all and wanting more” concludes: The 80 richest people in the world collectively have as much money as the poorer half of humanity. Alert as we think!
The gap between rich and poor
“We did not create this study to shock,” explains Oxfam employee Ricardo Fuentes-Nieva on the Oxfam blog. According to Fuentes-Nieva, the concentration of global prosperity is shocking and points to a trend that has been observed since the 1980s. In recent years in particular, the gap between rich and poor has widened alarmingly. In 2014, the richest 1 percent of the world’s population owned 48 percent of global wealth. If the trend continues, this 1 percent could already dispose of more than 50 percent of global resources in 2016.
Alarming distribution of wealth between rich and poor
The study owes its data to the Forbes list of the richest people in the world in 2014 as well as the latest “Global Wealth Databook” reports from the Swiss bank Credit Suisse. It is not just the gaping relationships that are striking, but the speed with which they are moving away from each other. The 80 richest people in the world doubled their fortunes between 2009 and 2014. In total, it comes to $ 1.9 trillion. That corresponds to the sum that the poorer 50 percent of the world’s population – 3.6 billion people – have at their disposal.
Millions for the lobby
There are primarily two sectors that generate wealth: on the one hand the finance and insurance sector, on the other hand pharmaceuticals and healthcare. The Oxfam report shows where some of the money goes. In 2013, the US financial sector invested over $ 400 million in lobbying, while lobbyists in the EU put it into 150 million dollars a year. The pharmaceutical and health industries in the USA invested almost 490 million dollars in lobbying in 2013, and at least 50 million dollars every year in the EU countries. Regardless of these sums, a humanitarian crisis of global proportions began in 2014 with the Ebola epidemic. Oxfam reveals how small the research contributions were compared to the investment motivated by lobbying.
Consequences
What are the consequences of this survey? Oxfam has compiled a list of 9 recommendations to governments, institutions and companies that not only curb redistribution from the bottom up, but also promote global justice. In addition to appropriate taxation of corporations and assets, worldwide, free access to education and health care is required. Further demands: minimum wages, minimum wages and gender equitable pay.
It remains to be seen whether this advice will be heard by the placeholders on the Forbes list. After all: Bill Gates is topped the list by an entrepreneur who has also made a name for himself as a philanthropist. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, founded together with his wife, manages a foundation capital of over 36 billion dollars, with a focus on agricultural and medical projects.
And these are the 80 richest people in the world according to Forbes 2014:
| rank | Surname | Assets 2014 (billion) | country | Self-made | sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Gates | $ 76 | USA | & check; | Tech |
| 2 | Carlos Slim Helu | $ 72 | Mexico | & check; | Telecom |
| 3 | Amancio OrtegaAmancio Ortega | $ 64 | Spain | & check; | trade |
| 4th | Warren Buffett | $ 58 | USA | & check; | Financial |
| 5 | Larry EllisonLarry Ellison | $ 48 | USA | & check; | Tech |
| 6th | Charles Koch | $ 40 | USA | & cross; | Different |
| 7th | David Koch | $ 40 | USA | & cross; | Different |
| 8th | Sheldon Adelson | $ 38 | USA | & check; | entertainment |
| 9 | Christy Walton | $ 37 | USA | & cross; | trade |
| 10 | Jim Walton | $ 35 | USA | & cross; | trade |
| 11 | Liliane Bettencourt | $ 35 | France | & cross; | Cosmetics |
| 12th | Stefan Persson | $ 34 | Sweden | & cross; | trade |
| 13th | Alice Walton | $ 34 | USA | & cross; | trade |
| 14th | S. Robson Walton | $ 34 | USA | & cross; | trade |
| 15th | Bernard Arnault | $ 34 | France | & cross; | Luxury item |
| 16 | Michael Bloomberg | $ 33 | USA | & check; | Financial |
| 17th | Larry Page | $ 32 | USA | & check; | Tech |
| 18th | Jeff Bezos | $ 32 | USA | & check; | trade |
| 19th | Sergey Brin | $ 32 | USA | & check; | Tech |
| 20th | Li Ka-shing | $ 31 | Hong Kong | & check; | Different |
| 21 | Mark Zuckerberg | $ 29 | USA | & check; | Tech |
| 22nd | Michele Ferrero | $ 27 | Italy | & cross; | Food |
| 23 | Aliko Dangote | $ 25 | Nigeria | & check; | Different |
| 24 | Karl Albrecht | $ 25 | Germany | & check; | trade |
| 25th | Carl Icahn | $ 25 | USA | & check; | Financial |
| 26th | George Soros | $ 23 | USA | & check; | Financial |
| 27 | David Thomson | $ 23 | Canada | & cross; | media |
| 28 | Lui Che Woo | $ 22 | Hong Kong | & check; | entertainment |
| 29 | Dieter Schwarz | $ 21 | Germany | & cross; | trade |
| 30th | Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud | $ 20 | Saudi Arabia | & check; | Financial |
| 31 | Forrest Mars Jr. | $ 20 | USA | & cross; | Food |
| 32 | Jacqueline Mars | $ 20 | USA | & cross; | Food |
| 33 | John Mars | $ 20 | USA | & cross; | Food |
| 34 | Jorge Paulo Lemann | $ 20 | Brazil | & check; | Financial |
| 35 | Lee Shau Kee | $ 20 | Hong Kong | & check; | Different |
| 36 | Steve Ballmer | $ 19 | USA | & check; | Tech |
| 37 | Theo Albrecht Jr. | $ 19 | Germany | & cross; | trade |
| 38 | Leonardo Del Vecchio | $ 19 | Italy | & check; | Luxury item |
| 39 | Len Blavatnik | $ 19 | USA | & check; | Different |
| 40 | Alisher Usmanov | $ 19 | Russia | & check; | Different |
| 41 | Mukesh Ambani | $ 19 | India | & cross; | Different |
| 42 | Masayoshi Son | $ 18 | Japan | & check; | Telecom |
| 43 | Michael Otto | $ 18 | Germany | & cross; | trade |
| 44 | Phil Knight | $ 18 | USA | & check; | trade |
| 45 | Tadashi Yanai | $ 18 | Japan | & check; | trade |
| 46 | Gina Rinehart | $ 18 | Australia | & cross; | Different |
| 47 | Mikhail Fridman | $ 18 | Russia | & check; | Different |
| 48 | Michael Dell | $ 18 | USA | & check; | Tech |
| 49 | Susanne Klatten | $ 17 | Germany | & cross; | cars |
| 50 | Abigail Johnson | $ 17 | USA | & cross; | Financial |
| 51 | Viktor Vekselberg | $ 17 | Russia | & check; | Metal industry |
| 52 | Lakshmi Mittal | $ 17 | India | & cross; | Metal industry |
| 53 | Vladimir Lisin | $ 17 | Russia | & check; | transport |
| 54 | Cheng Yu-tung | $ 16 | Hong Kong | & check; | Different |
| 55 | Joseph Safra | $ 16 | Brazil | & check; | Financial |
| 56 | Paul Allen | $ 16 | USA | & check; | Tech |
| 57 | Leonid Mikhelson | $ 16 | Russia | & check; | Different |
| 58 | Anne Cox Chambers | $ 16 | USA | & cross; | media |
| 59 | Francois Pinault | $ 16 | France | & check; | trade |
| 60 | Iris Fontbona | $ 16 | Chile | & cross; | Different |
| 61 | Azim Premji | $ 15 | India | & cross; | Tech |
| 62 | Mohammed Al Amoudi | $ 15 | Saudi Arabia | & check; | Different |
| 63 | Gennady Timchenko | $ 15 | Russia | & check; | Different |
| 64 | Wang Jianlin | $ 15 | China | & check; | Real estate |
| 65 | Charles Ergen | $ 15 | USA | & check; | Telecom |
| 66 | Stefan Quandt | $ 15 | Germany | & cross; | cars |
| 67 | Germ ?? n Larrea Mota-Velasco | $ 15 | Mexico | & cross; | Different |
| 68 | Harold Hamm | $ 15 | USA | & check; | Different |
| 69 | Ray Dalio | $ 14 | USA | & check; | Financial |
| 70 | Donald Bren | $ 14 | USA | & check; | Real estate |
| 71 | Georg Schaeffler | $ 14 | Germany | & cross; | Product |
| 72 | Luis Carlos Sarmiento | $ 14 | Colombia | & check; | Financial |
| 73 | Ronald Perelman | $ 14 | USA | & check; | Financial |
| 74 | Laurene Powell Jobs | $ 14 | USA | & cross; | entertainment |
| 75 | Serge Dassault | $ 14 | France | & cross; | aviation |
| 76 | John Fredriksen | $ 14 | Cyprus | & check; | transport |
| 77 | Vagit Alekperov | $ 14 | Russia | & check; | Different |
| 78 | John Paulson | $ 14 | USA | & check; | Financial |
| 79 | Rupert Murdoch | $ 14 | USA | & check; | media |
| 80 | Ma Huateng | $ 13 | China | & check; | Tech |
Image sources:
© Markus Bormann – Fotolia.com
Sources:
Oxfam
Forbes
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