Are You in the Top 1% of the World?

Some years back, the “Occupy” movement spotlighted income inequality around the globe. Protestors have gone away but inequality as an issue has not gone away.

Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2018 suggests the top 1% account for more than 47% of household wealth globally. To reach the top 1% worldwide in terms of wealth, you have to possess USD770,000 in net worth (equity, assets). Americans rank high in terms of household wages (4^th worldwide) but 25^th on median wealth. Why? U.S. consumers tend to rely on credit cards more than others in Europe. A typical American adult has USD60,205 in debt (according to Credit Suisse). Economist, Edward N. Wolff using the Federal Reserve data showed the top 1% of U.S. households have more wealth than all households in the bottom 90% combined.

According to Oxfam (2016), just 62 individuals had the same wealth as 3.6 billion people on planet earth.

What about Malaysia? Malaysians who earn roughly RM25,000 a month are in the country’s top 1% of wage earners, said Dr Muhammad Abdul Khalid, chief economist at DM Analytics (now the PM’s economic advisor). That translates to 146,000 individuals.

References:

1.         Are you in the top one percent of the world? - Daniel Kurt (https://www.investopedia.com)

2.         Who are the global top 1%? – Sudhir Anand and Paul Segal