1% of the population owns half of the world's wealth

You don't think there is a problem???

18,5 million households weigh some 78 trillion dollars, according to the annual report of the financial firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) published Tuesday.

Millionaires represent only 1% of the population on the globe but share nearly half of the world's private wealth, according to the annual report of the financial firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In total, they are 18,5 million wealthy households to hold 47% of wealth in income, bank deposits or stock market securities. Alone, they thus weigh some 78 billion dollars, the equivalent of world GDP.

Read also These 1% of rich who will capture as much wealth as the remaining 99% of the planet.

Where are the millionaires?

Unsurprisingly, the United States is home to by far the largest battalion of millionaires: they are around 8 million according to the Boston Consulting Group report. Behind them, the second world power, China, and its 2 million millionaires. But when you relate the number of millionaires to the total population of the country, Liechtenstein and Switzerland ultimately take the lead. And France? A thousand leagues from the United States and China, France has 445 millionaires, according to the consulting firm.

North America, champion of inequality

If North America, particularly the United States, emerges as the big winner of the millionaire contest, it is also the champion of inequality. Still according to the BCG, the extreme concentration of wealth is particularly marked in North America, where the 60 trillion dollars accumulated in private fortunes are held at 400% by millionaires. This proportion, the highest in the world, should even reach 63% in 69.

The millionaires in a bad patch?

“Growth in global private wealth lost momentum in 2015, particularly in developed markets”, explains the BCG report. The year 2015 would therefore not have been very good for millionaires: private wealth on the globe increased "only" by 5,2% against 7% in 2014. Because of this slowdown, the financial turbulence, the economic sanctions and political instability.

The great tax evasion boom

If private wealth has generally slowed its progression, the "offshore" centers are growing. The wealth accumulated in countries that offer advantageous taxation and discreet management to non-residents has increased by 3% in one year to reach nearly 10 billion dollars. And in the first place of the favorite offshore destinations of the great fortunes, Switzerland, of course.

The report also expects to see offshore business grow further in the years to come, despite “regulatory measures aimed at combating tax evasion”. The revelations of the Panama Papers have indeed encouraged the international community to announce a new plan to fight against offshore centres, an instrument of tax evasion.

Megane De Amorim

source: Liberation.fr

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