Half The World's Adults Have Less Than $2,300 In Wealth

[Riddick]

A new report confirms the world’s rich do, indeed, keep getting richer. “In recent years, there has been a growing sense that the economic recovery is shallow, and has not reached all layers of society. Evidence from our global wealth database supports this view,” Credit Suisse researchers wrote.

The richest 1% owned 50.8% of the world’s wealth in 2016, up from 45.4% in 2009. Zoom out to the wealthiest 10% of the world’s adult population, and together they hold 89% of all global assets. Meanwhile, some 73% of the world’s adults have less than $10,000 in wealth, accounting for 2.4% of global wealth. And half the world’s adult population owns less than $2,222.

But there may be some hope for the least wealthy in the world, says Michael O’Sullivan, chief investment officer for Credit Suisse’s wealth management division. He notes that while the bottom 73% mostly live in places like Congo or Nigeria, some are actually increasing their wealth at a greater clip than in other parts of the world.

“These countries are interesting because the rate of change for many households is actually very rapid,” says O’Sullivan. “And if I think back to what happened in Indonesia for the last 15 years, where wealth has increased by six times in that period, you look at some of the African countries and wonder whether the same is possible?”

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