The total wealth of the world's 26 richest people is equal to the total wealth of the 3.8 billion poorest. This shocking gap is in a report from the charity Oxfam. It said that since the 2008 global financial crisis, the number of billionaires has doubled. They are also getting $2.5 billion richer every day. This is in contrast to the poorest half of the planet. Their wealth is slowly shrinking as prices and rents rise and wages fall. Oxfam's report highlights the growing gap between the world's rich and poor and the increasing gap in wealth inequality.
The report says that most of the world's wealthy people made their money from technology companies. The world's richest person, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is worth $100 billion. This is 100 times more than Ethiopia's annual health budget. Oxfam said it was time to fix this imbalance in wealth. It wants fairer levels of income tax, and more tax on personal earnings and company profits. It also wants an end to tax avoidance schemes that big companies and the super-rich often use. It said that in many countries, only the rich could afford the "luxury" of quality education and healthcare.