wealth inequality

New estimates show that just eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world. As growth benefits the richest, the rest of society – especially the poorest – suffers. Our economy must stop excessively rewarding those at the top and start working for all people.

Pressure is piling on the G20 to lead a global push to increase taxes on the richest citizens back to past levels that most people believe were fairer and more useful for society. 

Widening inequalities are tearing our world apart. This is not by chance, but choice: “economic violence” is perpetrated when structural policy choices are made for the richest and most powerful people. But we can radically redesign our economies to be centered on equality, in which nobody lives in poverty, nor with unimaginable billionaire wealth—in which inequality no longer kills.

Despite being one of largest economies, Brazil is listed as one of the most unequal countries in the world. Although it has left millions of people out of poverty over the last decades, it still faces a huge gap between the country’s richest and the rest of the population. Learn more and support Oxfam's work on inequality.

Since the turn of the century, the poorest half of the world’s population has received just 1% of the total increase in global wealth. Meanwhile, half the new wealth has gone to the richest 1%. To help reverse this trend, we need rapid growth of equitable business structures with purpose, fairness and sustainability embedded into their model.

This report provides a picture of the current state of poverty and economic inequality in Nigeria, identifies the main drivers of this situation and presents some policy solutions.

The Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report shows once again that economic inequality remains at shockingly high levels.  The richest 1 percent now has as much wealth as the rest of the world combined.

Fighting inequality is not just an issue of fairness but an economic necessity. That’s not Oxfam speaking, but the International Monetary Fund today. 

In response to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) latest report on inequality, In It Together: Why Less Inequality Benefits All, Oxfam’s Senior Policy Advisor Claire Godfrey said:

“There is nothing surprising in the OECD’s latest report on inequality...

Global wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small wealthy elite. This briefing explains Oxfam’s methodology and data sources and updates key inequality statistics.