Oxfam: 82% wealth generated in 2017 went to the richest 1%

DAVOS, Switzerland - In its annual report revealed on Monday, Oxfam has pointed out that 82 percent of the wealth generated in 2017 was distributed among 1 percent of the global population.

According to the report, between March 2016 and March 2017, the number of billionaires rose at a rate of one every two days.

Oxfam found that four out of every five dollars of wealth generated last year ended up in the pockets of the richest one percent, while the poorest half of humanity got nothing. 

The report by the charity, which has come just ahead of the crucial World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland where global political and business leaders will be gathering, has highlighted a global system that rewards the super-rich and neglects the poor.

In 2017, the report said, 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world saw no increase in their wealth, while 82 percent of the wealth generated last year went to the richest one percent of the global population.

Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam’s executive director said, “(It) reveals how our economies are rewarding wealth rather than the hard work of millions of people. The few at the top get richer and richer and the millions at the bottom are trapped in poverty wages.”

Byanyima blamed “tax dodging” as a major cause of global inequality.

Ahead of the summit, he has also urged leaders to clamp down on tax havens and plough money into education, healthcare and jobs for young people.

Byanyima even criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for creating “a cabinet of billionaires” and implementing tax legislation that she said rewarded the super-rich, not ordinary Americans.

Oxfam found that in the U.S., the three richest people own the same wealth as the poorest half of the population.

The report also noted that women workers were worst hit by global inequality as they consistently earn less than men.

It also said that usually women workers are paid lower and more insecure forms of work.

WEF previously estimated that it would take 217 years before women earn as much as men and have equal representation in the workplace.

Oxfam report co-author, Iñigo Macías Aymar said, “The economic model is not working at all. The way this wealth is being distributed we are really worried, it’s being concentrated in fewer hands.”