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100 richest could 'end poverty'

The world's richest 100 people earned enough last year to end extreme poverty for the planet's poorest people four times over, Oxfam said. An "explosion in extreme wealth" was hindering efforts to tackle poverty, the charity said.

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Oxfam: 'Wealth for a few leaves many struggling'

Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's chief executive, said a "global new deal" was needed to reverse decades of increasing inequality.

We can no longer pretend that the creation of wealth for a few will inevitably benefit the many - too often the reverse is true.

Concentration of resources in the hands of the top 1% depresses economic activity and makes life harder for everyone else - particularly those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

In a world where even basic resources such as land and water are increasingly scarce, we cannot afford to concentrate assets in the hands of a few and leave the many to struggle over what's left.

– Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's chief executive

World's 100 richest people could 'end extreme poverty'

The world's richest 100 people earned enough last year to end extreme poverty for the planet's poorest people four times over, Oxfam said.

An "explosion in extreme wealth" was hindering efforts to tackle poverty, the charity said in a briefing released ahead of next week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Oxfam said the net income last year of the 100 richest people was 240 billion US dollars (£150 billion) in its report.

The briefing, called Releasing The Cost Of Inequality: How Wealth And Income Extremes Hurt Us All, noted that people in "extreme poverty" live on less than 1.25 US dollars (78p) per day. The charity called on world leaders to commit to reducing inequality to levels last seen in 1990.

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