The 100 richest people in the world earned enough last year to end extreme poverty suffered by the poorest four times over, aid agency Oxfam has said.
The UK charity said an explosion in extreme wealth is hindering efforts to tackle poverty and urged those attending next week's World Economic Forum in Switzerland to make changes, the BBC reports.
In its report entitled The Cost Of Inequality: How Wealth And Income Extremes Hurt Us All, the agency said efforts to tackle poverty were being hindered by an explosion in extreme wealth.
The richest 1% of the world's population had increased its income by 60% in the last 20 years, it said.
It reported that while the world's 100 richest people enjoyed a net income of $US240 billion last year while people in extreme poverty lived on less than $US1.25 a day.
The report said extreme wealth was "economically inefficient, politically corrosive, socially divisive.
Oxfam chief executive Barbara Stocking said 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
A four-day summit involving political and economic leaders runs in Davos from next Wednesday.
The charity suggested the summit close tax havens around the world, reverse "the trend towards more regressive forms of taxation", put in place a global minimum corporation tax rate and increase investment in free public services and safety nets for people out of work or ill.
"As a first step world leaders should formally commit themselves to reducing inequality to the levels seen in 1990," Ms Stocking said.
