Who earns what Worldwide

The world’s 225 richest people now have a combined wealth of $1 trillion. That’s
equal to the combined annual income of the world’s 2.5 billion poorests people.

Three billion people live on less than $2 per day while 1.3 billion get by
on less than $1 per day. Seventy percent of those living on less than $1 per
day are women.

Three decades ago, the people in well-to-do countries were 30 times better
off than those in countries where the poorest 20 percent of the world’s people
live. By 1998, this gap had widened to 82 times.

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates has more wealth than the bottom 45 percent of American
households combined.

Global poverty is concentrated in South Asia, where half of the world’s poor
live. Another quarter live in sub-Saharan Africa, while one quarter live in
East Asia, mainly China.

In 1973, the income of the top 20 percent of American families was 7.5 times
that of the bottom 20 percent. By 1996, it was 13 times.

Business Week reports that in 1999 top executives earned 419 times the average
wage of a blue-collar worker, up from 326:1 in 1998. In 1980, the ratio was
42:1.

http://www.channel4.com/4money/funnymoney/richometer/who_ww.html

15.06.2004
Bellaciao Collective