Ian Gavan/Getty Images for The Goodwood Estate
A new billionaire was minted every two days last year.
It may come as no surprise, but the rich are getting richer.
In fact, the world's richest 1% of people own more wealth than the rest of humanity, according to a report by Oxfam , a non-profit that focuses on fighting global poverty.
The report, titled " Reward Work, Not Wealth ," revealed an increasingly depressing picture of wealth and gender inequality around the world."To end extreme poverty, we must also end extreme wealth," Oxfam wrote in the report. "Today's gilded age is undermining our future. Governments should use regulation and taxation to radically reduce levels of extreme wealth, as well as limit the influence of wealthy individuals and groups over policy making."
Oxfam's report culled data from multiple sources including Forbes and Credit Suisse. Here are nine of the most mind-blowing facts about the world's richest people:
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Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett — the three richest Americans — own as much wealth as the bottom 50% of the US population, about 160 million people.
Billionaire wealth rose by nearly 13% annually between 2006 and 2015, while ordinary wages rose by an average of just 2% a year.
The total wealth of the globe's billionaires grew by $762 billion in 2017.
A new billionaire was minted every two days in 2017.
A net worth of $76,754 puts you in the top 10% of global wealth holders, while a fortune of $770,368 puts you in the top 1%.
The world's 500 richest people are expected to pass down $2.4 trillion to their heirs over the next 20 years.
The super-rich are hiding at least $7.6 trillion from tax authorities in offshore accounts. That means the top 1% is evading an estimated $200 billion in taxes.
A CEO in the US earns the same amount of money for about one day of work as an average worker makes annually.
Of the 2,043 billionaires worldwide, 90% are men.
