As many individuals and businesses continue to feel adverse financial effects from the Great Crash of 2008, the number of billionaires in the world has actually doubled since the economic crisis.
According to the anti-poverty organization Oxfam, the number of billionaires throughout the world has reached 1,646.
A report by Oxfam also notes that 85 of the billionaires own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population, with this elite group seeing their wealth collectively increase by an astounding $668 million per day.
“Inequality is one of the defining problems of our age. In a world where hundreds of millions of people are living without access to clean drinking water and without enough food to feed their families, a small elite have more money than they could spend in several lifetimes,” said Oxfam Chief Executive Mark Goldring.
The organization believes that global income inequality is “spiraling out of control” and is contributing to deteriorating economic and social conditions in many countries.
As an example, Oxfam cites Latin America, which it considers the world’s most unequal region, as well as one of the most dangerous. Millions of people in Latin America have been murdered between 2000 and 2010 and the continent has 41 of the world’s 50 most dangerous cities.
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