Global Wealth Inequality Is Even Worse Than We Thought (Millennials Are the New Peasants)

a post by Robby Berman for the Big Think blog

Unless you’re one of a fortunate handful of people, it may surprise you to learn that the world’s economy has not only recovered from the global financial meltdown of 2008, but has grown 27% since then, to $280 trillion, according to a new report from Credit Suisse Research Institute. (All graphics in this article are by Credit Suisse, and all figures are presented as USD or percentages.)

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So if so much of the world – and the U.S. in particular – is rolling in money, why doesn’t life feel any easier for most of us? After all, Credit Suisse says there are 8,740,000 million new millionaires since 2008, and the average wealth per person has hit a new mean of $56,540.

The trick is in that word “mean.” That average figure includes everyone, including the wealthiest people. And there’s the troubling disconnect. It’s a big one, and it’s gotten worse since 2008. Right now just 1% of the world’s population – the aforementioned rich – own just over half, 50.1%, of all of the world’s wealth. That’s up from 45.5% in 2001.

Continue reading and read the charts which are very clear. H.

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