Sir, – Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, writes that "our world rewards wealth, not hard work or talent" ("By time Davos is over, global elite will be $8 billion richer", Opinion & Analysis, January 23rd).
In my lifetime, world population has increased from 2.5 billion to 7.5 billion, yet many more people became prosperous than poor.
Sure, some became richer than Croesus but so what?
Just look at the big picture: in 1950 three-quarters of the world were living in extreme poverty, in 1981 it was 44 per cent, last year it fell below 10 per cent. On average, the number of people in extreme poverty fell by 130,000 every single day since 1990.
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Now that would make a good headline. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Vienna.