62 of world's richest individuals own as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion people on the planet. The wealth of those 62 individuals has risen by 44% since 2010, reads Oxfam's report presented January 18 in the run-up to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, according to RFE/RL.
About one-half of those wealthiest people are from the United States, 17 are from Europe, and the rest come from countries such as China, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan, according to the report.
The same day, the United Nations issued a report saying the world needs to spend an additional $15 billion annually on assistance to victims of conflicts and national disasters.
Read alsoWorld's richest lose $194 bln in first trading week of 2016A year ago, Oxfam warned that the combined wealth of the richest 1% would overtake that of the other 99% of people by 2016 unless the current trend of rising inequality was checked.
"The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast," said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International.
The international agency was calling on governments to adopt a seven-point plan to tackle inequality.
