The world’s richest 26 people own the same amount as half the global population, a shocking new report has revealed. The startling gap between the rich and poor was highlighted in Oxfam’s Public Good or Private Wealth? study.

The startling gap between the rich and poor was highlighted in Oxfam’s Public Good or Private Wealth? study.

It showed that billionaires saw their wealth rocket by £700bn in 2018 while 3.8 billion people were forced to survive on less £4.27 a day each.

The world’s richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, could fund Ethiopia’s health budget with 1% of his estimated £108.7billion fortune.

The increased fortunes of the wealthy is underlined by the fact in 2017 the world’s richest 43 earned the same amount as the poorest half – it is now just 26.

In the UK the study added that the poorest 10% of people in Britain now pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the richest 10%.

Meanwhile, the poorest 10% of people in Britain now pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the richest 10%, the study added.

Matthew Spencer, Oxfam’s director of campaigns and policy, said: “The way our economies are organised means wealth is increasingly and unfairly concentrated among a few while millions are barely subsisting.”

Oxfam has urged governments to pump cash into public services and overhaul tax policy.