Wealth inequality in the United States has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression, a new study released Monday by Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank, finds.
The fifth edition of its annual Global Wealth Report, the 64-page report on global wealth focuses on inequality and notes that, while America’s wealth has increased, average household income has not, widening the wealth/income ratio and in turn the inequality gap.
‘This is a worrying signal given that abnormally high wealth income ratios have always signaled recession in the past,” the bank wrote.
According to the report, the world’s millionaires, who make up 0.7 per cent of the world’s adults, now control 44 per cent of global assets – some $116 trillion. And more than 40 percent of the group – some 35 million people – are U.S. citizens.
The next-richest 7.9 per cent – 373 million people – controls 41.3 per cent of global wealth.
That leaves just 14.7 per cent of all wealth on the planet to its other 4.3 billion adult inhabitants.
According to the bank, the poorest segment of the world’s population – about 3.28 billion with less than $10,000 – have just 2.9 per cent of global wealth between them, while the 1 billion richer than they control around 12 per cent of global funds.
See the full report HERE.
