Eat the Rich

Do you have half a million bucks?

If you do, you belong among a certain 37 million people, who make up the top 1% of the wealth distribution in the world.

The recently published study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER), shows that this 1% crème de la crème (mob) owns half of all the world's assets.

The complete report is available for downloading in PDF.

The press release says that this report is scientifically significant, because it focuses on total assets (instead of income, which many other studies track), and also because of the wide data coverage of the analysis.

People in North America, Europe, and certain Asia-Pacific countries (like Japan and Australia), collectively hold 90% of the world's total wealth.

Need I remind, that even if you're living in one of these lucky regions, you're not necessarily in the 1% club:

The authors go on to note that ‘many people in high-income countries have negative net worth and —somewhat paradoxically— are among the poorest people in the world in terms of household wealth.’

Talk about equality. Talk about human rights. Talk about freedom.