The wealth required to enter the ultra-rich ranks varies significantly from country to country

A recent report by property consultancy Knight Frank shows the minimum net worth a person would need to own in 2023 to be considered part of the 1% - the richest people in a country - and the results differ significantly , according to Statista.

The cited source shows that, in China, it is enough to be a millionaire to be able to enter this proportion of 1%. According to the report, Chinese residents with assets worth just under $1.1 million were considered part of the Top 1% in 2023. In 2020, even those with a minimum of $850,000 were considered part of the ultra-rich category.

However, this necessary minimum is far from what happens in other economies. For example, in wealthy Switzerland, only those with a fortune of $8.5 million or more can be considered part of the ultra-rich 1%. In tiny and exclusive Monaco, the net worth must be eight figures, as only $12.9 million is enough to join the 1% club. In the United States, that figure rose to $5.8 million last year.

Although it did not release the figures for India in 2023, Knight Frank shows that the Asian country included in the Top 1% in 2020 all those who held the equivalent of $60,000 or more.

Despite India's lower profile regarding the Top 1% internationally, the group is wealthier than those in the United States or European countries. In this regard, Credit Suisse found that in 2022, this 1% group in India owned the equivalent of about 40% of the country's wealth, compared to 34% in the United States and 36% in Sweden, for example. In China, the figure was 31%.

• Oxfam: Crises and wars have increased the rich-poor gap

The crises and wars of recent years have widened the gap between the rich and the poor, in a context where the wealth of the five richest people in the world has doubled since 2020, according to the non-governmental organization Oxfam, which calls on countries to take measures to to reduce the influence of the super-rich on fiscal policy.

"We can no longer continue with such obscene levels of inequality", declared in January, in an interview granted to AFP, the interim director of Oxfam International, Amitabh Behar, who concluded that "this capitalism is in the service of the ultra-rich".

The wealth of the five richest people on the planet increased from 405 billion dollars in 2020 to 869 billion in 2023 due to the favorable performance of the stock markets and their participation in the capital of multinationals, and the wealth of billionaires in general increased by 3,300 billion dollars in the same interval, notes Agerpres.

At the same time, almost 5 billion people - the poorest 60% - became even poorer.

If the current growth rate is maintained, Oxfam concludes, the world could have its first "trillionaire" - owner of a fortune of 1,000 billion dollars - in about ten years.

On the other hand, global poverty would still not be eradicated even in 230 years.

"Billionaires are getting richer, the working class is struggling, and the poor are living in despair. This is, unfortunately, the state of the world economy", wrote US Senator Bernie Sanders in the preface to the Oxfam study, emphasizing: "Never before in the history of mankind has it happened that so few have so much. Never before in human history has there been such inequality of income and wealth. And never before have we seen this unprecedented level of greed, arrogance and irresponsibility on the part of the ruling class".

According to Oxfam data, the top five richest earned an average of $14 million per hour as of 2020; the total wealth of all the world's billionaires grew three times faster than the rate of inflation.

At the same time, 4.77 billion people, the poorest 60%, lost a total wealth of 20 billion dollars as of 2020, and the salaries of 791 million workers did not keep up with the inflation rate; on average, each lost almost one month's salary in two years.

The director of Oxfam Germany, Serap Altinisik, appreciates that society is facing an ordeal that continues to grow. "While billions of people have to endure the shock waves of the pandemic, inflation and war, the fortunes of billionaires flourish", Serap Altinisik drew attention.

Oxfam calls for a tax on the great wealth, and the funds thus obtained to be invested in actions to combat climate degradation and expand access to education, health care and social security.

Additional taxation of millionaires and billionaires could bring in 2.5 trillion dollars a year, Oxfam estimates.