The richest 2,000 people controlled more money than the poorest 4.6 billion combined in 2019, while pointing out care work by women adds more than the technology industry.
Olivia Chan reports
Richest richer than over half of humanity: report
A new report says the world's wealthiest people control more money than 60% of the planet's population.
That's according to charity Oxfam on Monday (20 January 2020).
Their report comes ahead of the Davos Economic Forum, the yearly summit where the super-rich descend on a Swiss ski resort.
It also estimates that unpaid care work by women adds at least $10.8 trillion a year in value to the world economy.
That's three times more than the tech industry.
Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar spoke to Reuters and singled out one case, a women named Buchu Devi in India who works up to 17 hours a day for her family.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) OXFAM INDIA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO), AMITABH BEHAR, SAYING: "On the one hand you see the billionaires who are all assembling at Davos with their personal planes, personal jets, super-rich lifestyles.
And, on the other hand, this Buchu Devi (one poor overworked Indian woman's name) is not one person.
I, in India encounter these women on a daily basis, and this is the story across the world.
We need to change this, and certainly end this billionaire boom." Behar urged governments to make sure the rich pay their taxes and use the revenue for those in need.
In just the last week, several protests around the world have hit on the gap between rich and poor.
A civil rights group in Kenya marched through downtown Nairobi, holding signs that say "fight inequality" In France, strikes continued against President Emmanuel Macron's plans to reform the pension system.
Thousands of miles away in Chile, demonstrators clashed with security forces after months of intense street protests over inequality and elitism.