| 12th
December, 2006
Two per cent of adults own more than half of
total global household wealth, according a UN development
institute study.
The study, released by the Helsinki-based World Institute
for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University,
also found that the richest one per cent of adults - as many
as 37 million people across the world who each have more than
$US500,000 in assets - owned 40 per cent of global assets
in the year 2000.
The richest 10 per cent - those with more than $US61,000 in
assets - accounted for 85 per cent of the world total while
people needed assets of only $US2,200 to be counted in the
top 50 per cent.
In a stark illustration of the inequity of the distribution
of the world’s wealth, the bottom half of the world’s
adult population owned only one per cent of global wealth.
Overall, global household wealth amounted to $US125 trillion
in the year 2000, around three time the value of total global
production.
The study found wealth was heavily concentrated in North America,
Europe and high income countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Average wealth in Japan amounted to $US181,000 per person
and $US144,000 per person in the US. In India, per capita
assets amounted to $US1,100 and in Indonesia, $US1,400.
~ www.wider.unu.edu
- DAVID ADAMS
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