Chart of the Day: America’s richest 1% own 40% of the country’s wealth
The proportion of wealth own by the richest 1% is the largest in 50 years Image: REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration
The richest 1% of America's households own 40% of the country's wealth – the biggest proportion in 50 years, according to a new paper by economist Edward N. Wolff.
The research, reported on by the Washington Post, also suggests that the country's top 1% have more wealth than the bottom 90% of households combined. The wealth gap has widened in recent decades, with the share of wealth owned by the richest 1% growing by nearly three percentage points since 2013 alone.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Stay up to date:
United States
Related topics:
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Equity, Diversity and InclusionSee all
Guiseppe Saba
November 7, 2024
