WORLD: Two per cent of adults have more than half of the world's wealth, including property and financial assets, according to a study by the UN development research institute published yesterday.
While global income is distributed unequally, the spread of wealth is even more skewed, the study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the UN University said.
"Wealth is heavily concentrated in North America, Europe and high-income Asia-Pacific countries. People in these countries collectively hold almost 90 per cent of total world wealth," the survey showed.
The Helsinki-based institute said its study was the first global research on the topic, about which there are only limited data.
"We've estimated that the richest 2 per cent of adults own more than half of global wealth, while the bottom half own 1 percent," said institute director Anthony Shorrocks.
He likened the situation to one person in a group of 10 people having $99, while the remaining nine shared $1.
"If you think income has been distributed unequally, wealth has been distributed even more unequally," Dr Shorrocks said.
According to the study, in 2000 a couple needed capital of $1 million to be among the top 1 per cent on the wealth list - the richest 37 million people in the world.
More than half of those people live in the United States or Japan.