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World's richest 1% own 40% of all wealth, UN report discovers.

* First ever study of global household assets

* 50% of world's adults own just 1% of the wealth

* The United States is home to over 33% of the world's super rich people, followed by Japan with 27%. Britain is home to 6% of the world's super rich and France 5%.

* Britain is now the world's third-richest country per capita. Each British person has on average $127,000 in assets with only the Americans ($144,000) and the Japanese ($181,000) being richer. Comparing each person's assets is a more accurate way of measuring a country's per capita wealth than the more common way of just measuring income per head. Using this method, the Japanese, Americans and British are the world's richest people.

James Randerson, science correspondent
Wednesday December 6, 2006
The Guardian

The richest 1% of adults in the world own 40% of the planet's wealth, according to the largest study yet of wealth distribution. The report also finds that those in financial services and the internet sectors predominate among the super rich.

Europe, the US and some Asia Pacific nations account for most of the extremely wealthy. More than a third live in the US. Japan accounts for 27% of the total, the UK for 6% and France for 5%.

The UK is also third in terms of per capita wealth. UK residents are found to have on average $127,000 (£64,000) each in assets, with Japanese and American citizens having, respectively, $181,000 and $144,000.
The global study - from the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations - is the first to chart wealth distribution in every country as opposed to just income, for which more comprehensive date is available. It included all the most significant components of household wealth, including financial assets and debts, land, buildings and other tangible property. Together these total $125 trillion globally.

Anthony Shorrocks, director of the research institute at the United Nations University, in New York, led the study. He affirmed that the existence of a nest egg provided an insurance policy that helped people cope with unforeseen events such as ill health or a lost job. Capital allowed people to drag themselves out of poverty, he added. "In some ways, wealth is more important to people in poorer countries than in richer countries." It was more difficult in developing countries to set up a business because it was harder to borrow start-up funds, he said.

His team used detailed data from 38 countries, but had to rely on incomplete information from the rest.
The report found the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total of global assets. Half the world's adult population, however, owned barely 1% of global wealth. Near the bottom of the list were India, with per capita wealth of $1,100, and Indonesia with assets per head of $1,400.

Many African nations as well as North Korea and the poorer Asia Pacific nations were places where the worst off lived.

"These levels of inequality are grotesque," said Duncan Green, head of research at Oxfam. "It is impossible to justify such vast wealth when 800 million people go to bed hungry every night. The good news is that redistribution would only have to be relatively small. Such are the vast assets of the rich that giving up a small part of their wealth could transform the lives of millions."

Madsen Pirie, director of the Adam Smith Institute, a free-market thinktank, disagreed that distribution of global wealth was unfair. He said: "The implicit assumption behind this is that there is a supply of wealth in the world and some people have too much of that supply. In fact wealth is a dynamic, it is constantly created. We should not be asking who in the past has created wealth and how can we get it off them." He said that instead the question should be how more and more people could create wealth.

Ruth Lea, director of the Centre for Policy Studies, a thinkthank set up by Margaret Thatcher, said that although she supported the goal of making poverty history she did not think increasing aid to poorer countries was the answer. "It's no use throwing lots of aid at countries that are basically dysfunctional," she said.

The UN report was issued as the Swiss magazine Bilan released a list of the richest Swiss residents. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, topped the list with an estimated fortune of $21bn.

guardian.co.uk

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azzuri · 'Our Scotland' Fossil Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 3777

I wonder why the report did not mention the large level of average debt in each of these countries? (The US and UK in particular)
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Cado · I Love 'Our Scotland' Joined: 14 May 2006 Posts: 283

I find these sort of reports slightly irritating. They always overlook or blatantly ignore the obvious - simply that the bulk of the worlds 'wealth' has been created by a relatively small portion of the worlds population. I don't deny that there may be wealth 'distribution issues' (an ethical point) - however it was the 'western' world that generated the bulk of global wealth when the industrial revolution kicked in.

This isn't a snidy point - rather I believe it to be a bloody obvious one. Simply because in accepting this point, they'll hopefully then understand what is wealth creation and, more importantly, 'how'.

I'm not critical of their desire to make a difference - just this assumption that it is constantly our responsibility, this tends towards (IMO) a slightly 'imperialist' outlook.

But another thought should be bourne in mind - one of the more recent offerings from Greenpeace/FoE (I think) pointed out that if the whole planet wanted to enjoy the same livings standards we in the West have - then we'd need two planets. Can't say Ive stummbled across a spare one in my travels...

neil8r · I Love 'Our Scotland' Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 359

Neil · Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 4:34 pm Post subject:

I would assume the the average person in Britain would be in the top 10% incomewise.

One problem with this is it is measuring wealth not income. My guess would be that somebody who owns a small flat in Tokyo will be several times richer than somebody who owns a house in rural Greece just because of different valuations but it is unlikely one will sell up & buy the other's home.
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LAz · Nationalist Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 113

Yeah, it sucks.

But the point is that the there is lots of pressure to make thing worse.

Globalization is making things worse. Jobs from the west are leaving, thus depressing wages in the west. The corporations do not give a damn about the people. All that they care about is their profits. These monsters must be contained, and nothing is being done to do so. Those who are against this whole process are labeled bad, like Milosevic, Saddam, Chavez, Lukashenko, and almost any regime which has opposed this awful system of the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.

Think about it... in 1954 the US overthrew the democratically elected government of Guatemala because they did not want to be enslaved as a banana colony... they wanted to develop... they were not allowed to, the CIA intervened. And they have interevened in other places and will continue to do so.

Sad

Aventinian · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:05 am Post subject:

LAz · Nationalist Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 113

IF Convenor · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:26 pm Post subject:

Aventinian · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:37 pm Post subject: