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Wealth Inequality Around The World

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The world is awash in cash – US companies alone have US$2 trillion stashed in cash and the amount of cash in the G4 economies of the United States, the euro zone, Japan and Britain has expanded five-fold since 2008. The reason, lack of investment opportunities and low returns in all asset classes. Yet, an estimated 4.5 billion people at the base of the pyramid are underserved in healthcare, education, sanitation, financial services, technology, transportation etc. Businesses aimed at serving this segment of the population would create significant social impact and may also get many of the sluggish economies moving again as many pockets at the base of the pyramid remain outside the economic system and with little hope of joining the ranks of global consumers. …show more content…

The World Bank estimates that there are more than a billion people living in poverty (earning less than $1.25 per day). A Credit Suisse report estimates that 71% of the world lives on less than $10 a day. The same report estimates that the incomes of the world’s poor 20% have hardly changed since 1988 while the richest 10% have seen their incomes rise 46%. The wealth inequality is assuming obscene proportions; the richest 1% have seen their share of global wealth increase from 44% in 2009 to 48% in 2014. The rest of the richest 20% own almost the rest of the global wealth (46%). The other 80% share just 5.5% of global wealth with an average asset holding of $3,851 vs $2.7 million per adult (1/700th) of the 1% in 2014. Oxfam reckons that the richest 1% own more wealth than all the rest. Back in 2010, it took 388 super-rich individuals to own half of the world. In 2016, 62 richest individuals have as much wealth ($1.76 trillion) as the bottom half of the world’s population (over 3.5 billion). This, when 1 in 9 people do not have enough to

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