“ A world where 1% of humanity controls as much wealth as the bottom 99% will never be stable”
– Barack Obama, UN General Assembly 2016
Too much of the world’s wealth is held by an extremely small percentage of the population, leading to social and financial inequality. In order for all nations to grow, become sufficient and prosper, it is necessary that there are equal opportunities for all. Estimates show that about 8 men own more than half the wealth of the entire world. The very design of our economy and economic principles have taken us to a point of extreme unsustainability and inequality. A world economy should work for the people, not the top percentile. Valuing the environment, implementing fair taxation laws, recognizing equal gender rights and working in the interest of labour workers or producers are central to a human economy.
Inequality Stats
- More than 70% of the worlds adults own under $10,000 in wealth
- This 70% only owns 3% of global wealth
- Under 1% of the global population owns over 45% of the worlds wealth
- The richest 1% has owned more wealth than the rest of the planet since 2015
- Eight men own the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the world
- Top 10 richest billionaires own over $505 billion in combined wealth, more than most nations total national product on a national basis
- Income of the poorest 10% of people increased by less than $3 a year since 1988, while the income of the richest 1% increased by over 182 times as much
- A FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange) top 100 CEO’s make more each than 10,000 labourers in Bangladesh combined
- Wealth by the super rich has increased by 11% every year since 2009
- Returns like this to billionaires indicated we could see the world’s first trillionaire within 25 years
- 10% of the global population is living in extreme poverty and lack access to basic education, clean water, modern sanitation and electricity.
Essentially, the basic functions of our economy make its it very difficult for the rich to not get richer, and in turn harder for the poor to get out of poverty. As President Obama said “A world where 1% of humanity controls as much wealth as the bottom 99% will never be stable.” It’s imperative that we challenge this issue and find new solutions to close the wealth gap and create a more equal and inclusive world. Get started with PIE and Prepr today on your innovative project to come up with a meaningful solution.
http://wir2018.wid.world/part-1.html
