The top 0.1% gained 13% of the world’s wealth, and the top 0.001% – about 76,000 people – collected 4% of all the new wealth created since 1980. The researchers noted that “most of that increase in inequality was due to the rise of the top 0.1% wealth owners”. The world’s richest person is Amazon’s founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, who has a $98.8bn (£73.9bn) fortune, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index. Bezos, the biggest shareholder in Amazon, has seen his wealth increase by $33bn over the past year alone. The report said a tenth of the world’s wealth was held in tax havens.

Source: The Guardian December 14, 2017 06:00 UTC