Since 2010, the world's poorest half has lost $1 trillion in wealth according to Oxfam, while the 62 richest billionaires now have as much wealth as the poorest 3.6 billion people combined - a group small enough to fit onto a single bus. Meanwhile, the world's richest 1% now hold as much wealth as the entire bottom 99% of the global population. Offshore tax havens play a key role in allowing wealth to concentrate, as the global rich have hidden $7.6 trillion in such havens, including many political and business leaders attending the World Economic Forum in Davos each year. Nine out of ten of the world's biggest corporations also have a presence in at least one tax

1. Since 2010, Oxfam
notes, the world's
poorest half has
lost $1 trillion
in wealth. Our
globe's 62 richest
billionaires, a gang
small enough to fit
into a single bus,
now have as much
wealth as our
poorest 3.6
billion.
Source: Oxfam, An Economy for the 1%, January 2016
Tracking Our World’s Relentless Rich
Every winter the world’s political and business elite retreats high up into
the Alps to think deep thoughts at the Davos World Economic Forum.
The charity Oxfam has some new stats on the global grand
divide that elite ought to be contemplating.
62
80
92
159
177
388
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
56%
54%
51.9%
50%
44%
46%
48.1%
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
The world’s richest 1 percent, meanwhile, now hold as
much wealth as the entire bottom 99 percent combined!
Bottom 99%
Top 1%
Share of global wealth, 2009-2015
What’s letting wealth concentrate so rapidly?
Offshore tax havens like the Cayman
Islands play a key role. The global rich, Oxfam
estimates, have hidden away $7.6
trillion in these havens, and those doing the
hiding include plenty of movers and shakers at
Davos. Nine of every ten of the world’s
biggest multinational corporations, says
Oxfam, turn out to “have a presence in
at least one tax haven.”