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#1
12-07-2006, 05:20 PM
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Wealth
Richest 1 percent own 40 percent of global assets
December 6, 2006 The richest 2 percent of adults still owns more than half of the world's household wealth, perpetuating a yawning global gap between rich and poor, according to research published Tuesday. The report from the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research shows that in 2000 the richest 1 percent of adults -- most of whom live in Europe or the United States -- owned 40 percent of global assets. The richest 10 percent of adults accounted for 85 percent of assets, the report said. By contrast, the bottom 50 percent of the world's adult population owned barely 1 percent of the world's wealth. According to the report, individual assets of $2,200 placed an adult in the top half of the world's wealth distribution in 2000. Those in the richest 10 percent of adults had assets of $61,000 or more while those in the top 1 percent -- who now number 37 million -- had at least $500,000. Household wealth in 2000 was valued at $125 trillion, equivalent to roughly three times the value of total global production, or to $20,500 per person, the report said. Average wealth in the United States amounted to $144,000 per person in the year 2000, and $181,000 in Japan, it said. In India, the figure was just $1,100 and in Indonesia, per capita wealth was $1,400. Wealth is concentrated in North America, Europe and high-income Asia-Pacific countries, with nearly 90 percent, the report said. 
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