World’s Top Ten Billionaires Worth More Than Poorest 85 Countries Combined

Currently, the combined wealth of the world’s ten richest people represents more than the GDP of the 85 poorest countries. Most of the world’s billionaires are Americans.

The world’s wealth is in the hands of a small minority and that the gap continues to grow over the years.

The 85 countries with the lowest GDP have a combined wealth of $ 813.5 billion in total. So, the ten most important billionaires their wealth is 858.1 million dollars. The IMF has collected these data by Learnboands.

The accumulated wealth of these billionaires not only exceeds the GDP of the poorest countries, but also exceeds the GDP of several countries that consider themselves economic powers.

One of these countries is Saudi Arabia, which shows a GDP of $ 779.29 billion. This country is in position 18 worldwide by GDP. In the African countries, none has a GDP higher than the combined ten billionaires wealth.

Among the African countries, Nigeria has the highest GDP. This country has an internal production of approximately 445,500 million. What represents 48% of the wealth of these ten millionaires. But, South Africa has a GDP that only represents 42%.

Amancio Ortega’s fortune is the 5th largest in the world and ranks 67th in the global PIM ranking. It is above Oman’s GDP.

The world’s richest men

Ten years ago, the richest man in the world was Carlos Slim. He is a  Mexican telecommunications magnate.

Another Latin American was also on that list, the businessman from the oil Eike Batista although his fortune plummeted when he went to prison for corruption.

A decade ago, not even the owner of Amazon, who is currently the richest man in the world, was on the list. According to Forbes and Oxfam, among the ten richest men in the world are:

1. Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon (United States) with a fortune of $ 123.4 billion.
2. Bill Gates co-founder of Microsoft (United States) with a wealth of $ 112 billion.
3. Amancio Ortega, founder of Zara, owner of Inditex (Spain) with a fortune of US $ 78.1 billion.
4. Warren Buffett majority shareholder of Berkshire Hathway (United States) with a wealth of $ 90 billion.
5. Carlos Slim Helú, owner of Grupo Carso (Mexico), his fortune is the US $ 50,000 million.
6. Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder, and CEO of Facebook (United States), has a fortune of $ 44.6 billion.
7. Michael Bloomberg owner of Bloomberg LP (United States) his fortune is the US $ 40,000 million
8. Larry Ellison, co-founder, and CEO of Oracle (United States), has a fortune of $ 43.6 billion.
9. Bernard Arnault (France) President and CEO of the LVMH luxury goods group. His fortune is $ 111.1 billion.
10. Larry Page, Co-founder of Google Page (United States), his fortune is 60,500 million.

Other facts

In the case of Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, he not only made his fortune with that company but also with his participation in The Washington Post. Right now, his fortune is above Morocco’s GDP, which is 110.04 billion.

Then there is Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft. He is the second richest person in the world, and his wealth is like Ecuador’s GDP.

Bernard Arnault has a wealth that exceeds the GDP of Slovakia and Ecuador.  His fortune is approximately 106,500 million. In position number 4 of the richest men in the world is Warren Buffet. His fortune is above the GDP of the Dominican Republic.

The poorest countries in the world

As mentioned before, the accumulated wealth of the world’s richest men exceeds the GDP of the world’s 85 poorest countries combined.

Among the world poorest countries, the top 10 are on the African continent. This country represents a third of the world. Only in Africa, 13% of world poverty is registered. Much of the continent is in extreme poverty or critical condition.

These countries include:

1. Afghanistan
2. the Democratic Republic of the Congo
3. Liberia
4. Niger
5. the Central African Republic
6. Chad, South Sudan
7. Burundi, Mali
8. Eritrea
9. Burkina Faso
10. Sierra Leone
11. Mozambique
12. Madagascar
13. Gambia, among many others.

No country in Africa manages to surpass the richest in the world. This is the poorest continent in the world; this is because of many problems together.

Although it has many resources and rich lands, they are affected by the lack of food and the lack of housing. Also, they cannot cover their basic needs, all this together with migratory conflicts and climate change causes poverty to increase.

How does Oxfam calculate the numbers?

Oxfam calculates based on Forbes data and Credit Suisse Global Wealth annual data. He has made these reports for the past four years.

Both Forbes and Credit Suisse Global Wealth has been reporting on the distribution of wealth worldwide since 2000.

They use the value of each person’s assets, take into account property and land. In this way, they can determine what the person owns. Debts are subtracted, and data such as wages and income are excluded.

For 2016, the organization made a calculation where it determined that the 62 richest people in the world have a very large accumulated fortune. Wealth as half the world’s poorest population.

Oxfam ensures that the richest 1% of the planet already has as much wealth as the other 99%. Furthermore, they claim that half of the poorest population did not see any increase in their earnings.

This organization blames certain factors such as tax evasion, cutting costs, and the influence of companies on politics for this inequality.

Oxfam’s director of external affairs has commented that many people are angry and feel abandoned because even if they work, they do not see growth in their country.

This organization calls for an economy that is more caring and humane. Furthermore, they agree that employers offer a living wage and pay a fair share of taxes.

That they worry about paying a salary that is higher than the minimum wage established by the country where they are; this organization has many detractors because they criticize the way they work.

Final words

Some experts criticize the Oxfam organization because they affirm that the organization only focuses on exposing the wealth of the rich and does not offer a solution to combat poverty.

With this, you can see the accumulated wealth of the ten richest men represents a value greater than 813,500 billion dollars. An amount higher than the GDP of the 85 poorest countries worldwide.