The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of the global household wealth

Michael Harris

December 6, 2006

2 Min Read
Is America Heading Straight to Hell?

According to a study released earlier this week by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER), the richest 2 percent of adults in the world own more than half of the global household wealth. No shocker there, of course.

As the release notes:

  • The richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and ... the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. In contrast, the bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth.



Furthermore, assets of $2,200 per adult placed a household in the top half of the world wealth distribution in the year 2000, according to the study. It took $61,000 in assets to rank among the richest 10 percent of adults in the world, and more than $500,000 to make it to the richest 1 percent.

The study notes, though, that the richest 1 percent group is "far from an exclusive club." That's because it boasts 37 million members worldwide.

Notably, 37 percent of those richest individuals live in the U.S., where the average wealth came to $144,000 per person six years ago. Among the other nations of the world, only Japan even came close to matching that mark with a 27 percent score.

In light of such recent incidents as the Dallas school firing of a teacher over a museum viewing of nude art, that brings up a question on the minds of perplexed primates everywhere: If America is indeed a "Christian nation," is the country heading straight to hell?

"And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." -- Matthew 19:24

— Lancelot Link, Secret ChimpCable Digital News

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