Figure of the Day: $ 7.6 trillion in personal wealth of world billionaires are hidden off taxes in offshores

The rich keep getting richer and the poor getting poorer. According to the British charity Oxfam, the wealth of 72 million people of the richest people on Earth (1% of the world's population) reached $ 125 trillion in 2018 and exceeded the wealth of the rest of the world's population.

The gap between the richest people and the rest of the world has grown dramatically. In 2015, the wealth and assets of the world's 62 richest billionaires ($ 1.76 trillion) equaled the wealth of 3.6 billion people belonging to the poorest half of the world's population. In five years, the fortunes of these 62 people grew by 44% ($ 542 billion). The fortune of the poorest half of humanity during this time fell by 41% (almost $ 1 trillion).

“Instead of an economy that works for shared prosperity, for future generations and for the planet, we have created an economy for 1%”, - states an Oxfam report entitled “Economy for 1%”.

Nevertheless, from 1990 to 2010, the number of poor people in the world was halved - but this is happening much more slowly than it could have happened if it were not for this situation of inequality - and each year of lag brings more than just inconvenience, but the death of people.

“Humanity will not be able to overcome this problem if it does not solve the problem of inequality - if it does not reconfigure an economy that works to enrich the already rich, to an economy that provides equal opportunities for all”, - journalist Dmitry Klein comments on these figures, - Which is definitely not there now..."

For example, $ 7.6 trillion in personal wealth, more than the combined gross product (GDP) of the United Kingdom and Germany - thanks to opportunities available only to the rich and wealthy - is taxed off in various offshore jurisdictions (an analysis of 200 companies, including the largest in the world, shows that 9 out of 10 analyzed companies are present in at least one "tax haven").

And a couple more facts:

The 62 richest people on the planet control the same amount of assets as the poorest half of the population.

53 of the 62 richest people in the world are men.

Oxfam includes among the richest people on the planet those individuals whose assets exceed $ 760,000. These people are among the richest 1% of the world's population (which says a lot about the general situation of inequality and economy in our world).