One Percent Of The World Own Nearly Half Of Its Wealth

Global inequality has been rising in recent years, and just one percent of the population now owns nearly half of the world’s wealth according to the Credit Suisse 2014 Global Wealth report. Even though recent gains have actually just brought inequality back to pre-crisis levels, the longer secular trend is toward greater inequality, and a feedback loop between existing inequality and asset prices means that the gap could continue to grow.

“Rising inequality in recent years may have contributed to asset price increases by providing the top income groups with more funds to invest, and caused wealth inequality to rise further, by giving those lower down more reason to borrow,” says the report.