82% of wealth generated in 2017 earned by world top 1% – Oxfam

Eighty-two per cent of the wealth generated last year went to the richest one per cent of the global population, while the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world saw no increase in their wealth, says a new Oxfam report.

The report was launched on Monday as political and business elites gather for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The report, titled “Reward Work, Not Wealth”, revealed how the global economy enabled  a wealthy elite to accumulate vast fortunes while hundreds of millions of people are struggling to survive on poverty pay.

“Billionaire wealth has risen by an annual average of 13 per cent since 2010;  six times faster than the wages of ordinary workers, which have risen by a yearly average of just two per cent.

“The number of billionaires rose at an unprecedented rate of one…