According to the 2019 Forbes ranking, the world is home to 2,153 billionaires. The world’s 10 wealthiest billionaires shared almost $1.1 trillion between them. 9 out of the world’s top 10 billionaires are from the United States.
The Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report calculates that total global wealth rose by $36.3 trillion in 2019. The average wealth per adult reached $77,309. That number has risen 8.5% since 2018.
But the fact that the wealth inequality has been growing for several decades is disturbing. These gaps have allowed the very richest to amass unprecedented levels of wealth. The world’s richest 1% (with assets over $1 Mio.) own 44% of the world’s wealth. If you have $100,000 in assets, you are in the top 11% of the global population, which owns 82.8% of global wealth. If you have less than $10,000 in assets, you are part of the 56.6% of the world’s population that holds less than 2% of global wealth.
The US dominates the global population of high net worth individuals. More than 5.9 million individuals have at least $1 million in financial assets, as calculated in Capgemini’s World Wealth Report. The US is home to more than twice as many adults with at least $50 million in assets as the next five nations combined. A much greater share of national wealth and income goes to the wealthiest 1% here than in any other country.
Yes, the US is the world’s wealthiest nation with the highest number of billionaires. But the average (median) American adult is less wealthy than their counterparts in many other industrialized nations. If the fact that Swiss and Norwegians are wealthier than the median US citizen do not surprise you, then Irish, Japanese and French do.
Still, the trend of growing inequality across the globe is rising at an unacceptable pace.
Sven Franssen