World's Richest 1% Own Almost Half Of Global Wealth Says Credit Suisse Report

The 1% Are Absurdly Rich And YOU May Well Be One Of Them
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The richest one percent of the world's population own 48% of global wealth.

BUT, before you get too angry at those damned entitled folk in their mega-yachts, this figure may well include you.

According to the Credit Suisse global wealth report, to join the hallowed ranks of the top one per cent would require £500,000 of wealth including home equity.

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Being rich may well have lost its meaning slightly in the West

To make the top 10% needs a much more modest £48,280 pounds.

According to figures compiled by the Office for National Statistics in 2012, around 20% of UK households have wealth above £600,000 - more than enough to firmly place themselves in the top one percent.

Further, 79% percent of UK households have wealth totalling more than £40,000 enough to be at the very least nudging into the top 10% of the richest people in the world.

But on a global level, outside of our relatively affluent isles, the inequality gap is staggering, so even if you don't feel particularly rich, count yourself lucky.

Story continues after slideshow...

World's Richest Billionaires 2013
10. Bernard Arnault (01 of09)
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Net worth: $29 billion DOWNSource: LVMHCitizenship: France- Falls from no. 4 in world to no. 10 due to more information about his ownership stake.- Also a factor: Forbes now values his direct stake in Christian Dior, which in turn has a 41% stake in LVMH and trades at a near 20% discount to the underlying shares; previously we hadvalued the shares in LVMH.- LVMH shares rose more than 6%; U.S. sales grew at a faster rate than sales in Asia region inthe fourth quarter- Arnault denied reports that his request for Belgian citizenship last year was related to thecountry’s tax policies.- It was announced in October that he will be knighted for his services in the U.K. (credit:FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/GettyImages)
9. Liliane Bettencourt (02 of09)
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Net worth: $30 billion UPSource: L’OrealCitizenship: France- Heiress to L’Oreal cosmetics fortune jumps to 9th richest in 2013 from 15th richest last year, thanks to a more than 30% rise in the price of L’Oreal stock. Her net worth is $6 billion higherthan a year ago.- Now the world’s richest woman. She last cracked the top 10 in 1999.-Her father founded L’Oreal. Bettencourt and her family own more than 30% of the company.-Bettencourt’s assets were placed under the guardianship of her daughter in 2011 after a three-year legal battle. Bettencourt, widowed and age 90, suffers from dementia. Her grandson, Jean-Victor Meyers, took her spot on the L’Oreal board in February 2012. (credit:AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
8. Li Ka-shing(03 of09)
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Net worth: $31 million UPSource: diversifiedCitizenship: Hong Kong- Once again Asia’s richest person and the only one from the region among the world’s top 20 richest.- His fortune jumped $5.5 billion to $31 billion, as shares of his biggest holdings, Cheung Kong, Hutchison Whampoa and Husky Energy, all rose more than 10%. He also received 2012dividends of $860 million.- Li's businesses employ 260,000 people around the world in 52 countries.-Li-controlled companies bought British gas supplier Wales & West Utilities for $1 billion in October; his third utilities acquisition in the U.K. in 24 months. He now supplies gas to a quarter of all Brits.- Investor in such tech outfits as Facebook, spotify, and social TV platform Stevie. (credit:Chinafotopress/Lv Xiaowei/ZUMApress/Newscom)
6. Charles Koch And David Koch (04 of09)
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Net worth: $34 billion UPSource: diversifiedCitizenship: U.S.A.- World’s richest siblings added $9 billion apiece to their fortunes over the past year.- They own a combined 84% of Koch Industries, country’s second largest private company with $115 billion in estimated sales, up 15% in the past year.- Also got boost from improving operations at Georgia Pacific, maker of Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper, Brawny paper towels, and Dixie cups. Sold more than $1 billion worth oftoilet paper in 2011.- David, who runs the chemical technology side of Koch Industries, is the richest New Yorker.- Things didn’t go so well on the political front as brothers failed in their quest to unseat Barack Obama from the White House ("Bitterly disappointing," he told Forbes in an interview after theelection). (credit:Jamie Kripke, Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)
5. Larry Ellison (05 of09)
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Net worth: $43 billion UPSource: OracleCitizenship: U.S.A.-Software mogul is $7 billion richer than a year ago, thanks to more than 20% jump in the valueof Oracle stock.- In June he bought 98% of Hawaiian island of Lanai from billionaire David Murdock for a reported $500 million.-Just recently bought Island Air, a Hawaiian airline. Purchase price was not disclosed.-Continues to buy property in Malibu.-Gearing up for the America’s Cup yacht races in San Francisco later in 2013.-Supports the Ellison Medical Foundation, which does research on aging and age-related diseases. Gave $45 million worth of Oracle shares to the foundation in April 2012. (credit:Tony Avelar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
4. Warren Buffett(06 of09)
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Net worth: $53.5 billion UPSource: Berkshire HathawayCitzenship: U.S.A.- Year’s second biggest gainer added $9.5 billion to his fortune as Berkshire Hathaway shares rose 26% year over year-First time he’s not among top 3 richest since 2000.- Investors applaud his dealmaking savvy, and this year was no exception as he made a couple of notable moves: in February, announced a deal with Brazilian billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann's3G Capital to snap up iconic ketchup producer H.J. Heinz Co. for $23.2 billion; bought Oriental Trading in November 2012.- World’s second most generous person, he gave $1.5 billion to the Gates Foundation in July 2012, bringing his lifetime giving to nearly $17.3 billion. On his birthday in August 2012 Buffettpledged $3 billion of stock to his children's foundations. (credit:Michael Prince)
3. Amancio Ortega (07 of09)
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Net worth: $57 billion UPSource: ZaraCitizenship: Spain- Year’s biggest gainer: fortune up $19.5 billion- Moves to number 3, up from number 5 richest last year. Now ahead of Warren Buffett.- Driving the jump is a more than 50% rise in value of Inditex shares; Ortega, who stepped down as the firm’s chairman in 2011, still owns nearly 60% of the shares.- He also has real estate portfolio, estimated to be worth more than $4 billion, that includes iconic Torre Picasso, a 43-story skyscraper in Madrid (Google is a tenant), plus properties inMadrid, London, Chicago, San Francisco and New York. (credit:Pascal Le Segretain)
2. Bill Gates(08 of09)
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Net worth: $67 billion UPSource: MicrosoftCitizenship: U.S.A-World's biggest philanthropist has given away $28 billion, the vast majority of it to his foundation, which is working to eradicate such diseases as polio and malaria.- Net worth is up by $6 billion vs. March 2012 due to gains in his investment portfolio. Holdings include tech hygiene firm Ecolab and Mexican Coke bottler FEMSA, both up more than 20% inthe past year.-Microsoft stock --he owns about 5% of the company -- accounts for just 18% of his net worth.-In February the first 12 non-Americans joined Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, in which the ultra-wealthy pledge to give away at least half their net worth to charity. Newpledgers include Richard Branson of the U.K. and India’s Azim Premji.-Gates recently said the only thing left on his bucket list was, "Don't die." (credit:Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
1. Carlos Slim Helu & Family (09 of09)
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Net Worth: $73 billion UPSource: telecomCitizenship: Mexico- World's richest man for the fourth year in a row.- Net worth up $4 billion versus 2012 but still $1 billion shy of his all-time record; boost came from surging stock prices at his financial arm, Grupo Financiero Inbursa, and at his Grupo Carsoindustrial and retail giant.- Pan-Latin American mobile telecom outfit America Movil remains his most valuable holding at $36.3 billion; the company spread its wings to Europe in the past year, buying pieces of Dutchtelecom company KPN and Telekom Austria- Bought a majority of struggling Spanish soccer team Real Oviedo.- Latin America’s most generous person, his foundation pledged to translate into Spanish 1,000 videos from the Khan Academy education nonprofit website. Slim also hosted Bill Gates in lateFebruary; the two men announced they are funding research to improve farmers' yields and reduce hunger. (credit:AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

Since 2000 global wealth has doubled to a staggering £163 trillion yet the bottom half of the world's population own less than one percent of it.

Anti-poverty campaigners, Oxfam, said the figures were "more evidence that inequality is extreme and growing, and that economic recovery following the financial crisis has been skewed in favour of the wealthiest".

The charity's head of inequality, Emma Seery, told the Guardian: "In poor countries, rising inequality means the difference between children getting the chance to go to school and sick people getting life saving medicines.

"In the UK, successive governments have failed to get to grips with rising inequality. This report shows that those least able to afford it have paid the price of the financial crisis whilst more wealth has flooded into the coffers of the very richest."

And lets not forget those at the top of the one per cent who actually are obscenely rich.

Earlier this year Oxfam found the richest 85 people in the world - as many people as could fit on a double-decker bus - own as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest.

Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said: "It is staggering that in the 21st Century, half of the world’s population – that’s three and a half billion people – own no more than a tiny elite whose numbers could all fit comfortably on a double-decker bus..

“We cannot hope to win the fight against poverty without tackling inequality. Widening inequality is creating a vicious circle where wealth and power are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, leaving the rest of us to fight over crumbs from the top table.

“In developed and developing countries alike we are increasingly living in a world where the lowest tax rates, the best health and education and the opportunity to influence are being given not just to the rich but also to their children.

“Without a concerted effort to tackle inequality, the cascade of privilege and of disadvantage will continue down the generations. We will soon live in a world where equality of opportunity is just a dream. In too many countries economic growth already amounts to little more than a ‘winner takes all’ windfall for the richest.”