Pioneering study shows richest two percent own half world wealth

Submitted By MelindaBA

The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth according to a path-breaking study released by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER).

The most comprehensive study of personal wealth ever undertaken also reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. In contrast, the bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth. The research finds that assets of $2,200 per adult placed a household in the top half of the world wealth distribution in the year 2000.

To be among the richest 10% of adults in the world required $61,000 in assets, and more than $500,000 was needed to belong to the richest 1%, a group which — with 37 million members worldwide — is far from an exclusive club. The UNU-WIDER study is the first of its kind to cover all countries in the world and all major components of household wealth, including financial assets and debts, land, buildings and other tangible property. See: Click here: http://business.maktoob.com/report.asp?id=20061206054302