1% Wealth

There are many ways to be in ‘the 1%’. Are you?

For the last ten years the ‘one percent’ has been used as short-hand to refer to the wealthiest people on the planet.

The phrase has been used to illustrate the huge disparities in wealth globally, both between and within countries. According to a 2019 report by the Credit Suisse Research Institute 1% of the world’s population holds 44% of household wealth (Global Wealth Report).

It appears that the gap is widening. A report by the Economic Policy Institute revealed that from 2009 to 2015 in the United States, the incomes of the top 1% grew faster than the incomes of the bottom 99 percent in 43 states and the top 1% captured half or more of all income growth in nine states in the U.S. The assets of the most fortunate globally have been growing at twice the rate of everyone else. Remarkably a recent report has calculated that by the year 2030 ‘the 1%’ will own two-thirds of the world’s wealth.

Bloomberg have helpfully compiled a list of what the top 1% within some countries looks like.  The list (using data from the World Inequality Database), suggests that you would need to have an annual pretax income of $488,000 to be considered part of the top 1% in the U.S in 2019 and $248,000 (approximately £190,000) in the UK. By comparison the ‘one-percenters’ within China would need an annual income equivalent to $107,000 (approximately 744,000 Chinese Yuan) and in India $77,000 (approximately 5,800,000 Indian Rupees).

Looking at total wealth the Global Wealth Report has calculated that to be in ‘the 1%’ in 2019 an individual must have upwards of $744,400 (approximately £570,000) in combined income, investments, and personal assets to rank in the top 1% of the world’s wealthiest individuals. Are you in ‘the 1%’? This will be the case for 75,771,304 earthlings currently.

Many advanced economies of course have systems of progressive taxation forcing ‘the 1%’ to pay a hefty amount to their governments. In the UK for example the top 1% of earners contribute more than a third of the income tax collected. Dependent on the politics of the day some of that money is then used for the betterment of the 99% and to support policies to reduce inequality.

Most wealth is earned or won rather than inherited from the previous generation. But if money doesn’t float your boat there are of course many other ways to find yourself born into ‘the 1%’. You may be a redhead for example; only one in a hundred are born with naturally red hair. A look which some consider to be priceless.