Richest 1% wealthier than 70% of UK population combined

The richest 1% grabbed around half of all new wealth created globally since 2020, according to a new analysis by Oxfam. In the UK, this small section is wealthier than 70% of the population combined.

The report called Survival of the Richest not only reveals the disparity between the rich and the poor, but also suggests several measures to fight this inequality.

The report comes close at the heels of a similar report, which revealed that the number of billionaires in the UK witnessed a 20% jump during the coronavirus pandemic. It added that there has been an over 1,000% increase in billionaire wealth in the last 32 years.

The Oxfam report found that $26 trillion (63 percent) of all new wealth was captured by the richest 1 percent.

"While ordinary people are making daily sacrifices on essentials like food, the super-rich have outdone even their wildest dreams. Just two years in, this decade is shaping up to be the best yet for billionaires —a roaring '20s boom for the world's richest," said Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director of Oxfam International.

The report also highlighted that the taxes on the wealthiest have been reduced over the years. Over the last four decades, governments across continents have decreased the income tax rates for the richest.

The report comes at a time when the UK is in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. As many as 3.9 million children are living in poverty in the UK and 6.7 million households are struggling to heat their homes. In the UK, 59 percent of inflation was driven by increased corporate profits.

Acquiring wealth is not the only thing that billionaires have done, they are also the biggest individual contributors to the climate crisis. "The wealthiest 1 percent of humanity are responsible for twice as many emissions as the poorest 50 percent," added the report.

Oxfam has called for higher taxes on the super-rich. It has suggested several measures to tackle the crisis, which include introducing one-off solidarity wealth taxes to end crisis profiteering.

It added that an annual wealth tax of up to 5 percent on the world's richest can lift 2 billion people out of poverty.