2,153 billionaires wealthier than 4.6B people

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Last year, 2,153 billionaires from all around the world were richer than 4.6 billion people, a new report from U.K.-based charity Oxfam said on Monday.

The report, named Time to Care said: "Economic inequality is out of control. The world’s richest 1% have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people."

During the last decade, the number of billionaires has doubled -- 2,153 -- the report revealed.

The world's richest 22 men's wealth was over than all African women in the last year, it underlined.

The report also warned about extreme poverty in the world, saying: "Almost half of the world’s population lives on less than $5.50 a day."

It said: "At the top of the global economy, a small elite are unimaginably rich. Their wealth grows exponentially over time, with little effort, and regardless of whether they add value to society."

The report stressed that especially women and girls face poverty in the world.

Women work 12.5 billion hours daily for free and their efforts are "essential" for the world, the report stressed.

"Oxfam has calculated that this work adds value to the economy of at least $10.8 trillion," it added.

Amitabh Behar, Oxfam's India CEO, said: "They [women] spend billions of hours cooking, cleaning and caring for children and the elderly. Unpaid care work is the ‘hidden engine’ that keeps the wheels of our economies, businesses and societies moving."

The report proposed that governments must establish a new and human-based economy.

It asserted that super-rich people are avoiding to pay their taxes up to 30%.

Mentioning inequality between men and women globally, it said: "Men own 50% more wealth than women."

The report offered a 0.5% additional tax on the richest people's wealth over the next decade for meeting investment need to generate 117 million new jobs in some sectors -- elderly and childcare, education and health.

Behar said: “The gap between then rich and poor can't be resolved without deliberate inequality-busting policies, and too few governments are committed to these.”

“Our broken economies are lining the pockets of billionaires and big businesses at the expense of ordinary men and women. No wonder people are starting to question whether billionaires should even exist,” he added.

Oxfam's report was created based on the Credit Suisse Global Wealth report.