WATU wanane duniani wanamiliki utajiri wa watu bilioni 3.6 ambao ndio nusu ya watu maskini duniani,Oxfam limesema. Oxfam taasisi isiyo ...
Oxfam taasisi isiyo ya kiserikali imesema taarifa hiyo ni kw amujibu wa takwimu mpya zilizoboreshwa.Aidha wanasema taarifa hizo zinathibitisha hofu ya pengo kubwa lililopo kati ya maskini na matajiri.
Ingawa wapo baadhi ya watu wanahoji takwimu hizo, Oxfam imesema kwamba hofu hiyo ni kubwa zaidi kuliko ilivyofikiriwa awali.
Taarifa hiyo ya Oxfam inatolewa wakati mkutano wa uchumi wa dunia unaanza mjini Davos.
Mark Littlewood wa Institute of Economic Affairs, amesema pamoja na taarifa hiyo Oxfam inatakiw akujikita zaidi kutafuta namna ya kuboresha hali za uchumi.
Anasema kwamba Oxfam kama taasisi inayopambana na umaskini badala ya kuhangaika kuona nini kinatakiwa kufanyw akuondokana na umaskini yenyewe imebaki kuwasema watu matajiri duniani.
Mark Littlewood ambaye pia ni mkurugenzi mkuu wa wana zuoni wa soko huru (director-general of the free market think tank) anasema kwa wale ambao umaskini unawasumbua ni lazima wajikite zaidi katika kutafuta njia za kukuza uchumi si kushambulia matajiri.
Ben Southwood, mkuu wa utafiti wa Adam Smith Institute, anasema kwamba suala si utahjiri, lakini ni mazingira bora ya maskini ambayo anaamini kwamba yanabadilika kila mwaka.
Amesema kila mwaka Oxfam wanatoa takwimu za matajiri, nay eye hapingani na takwimu hizo anachopingana nacho ni tafsiri ya takwimu kama inavyofanywa na Oxfam.
The annual event in Davos, a Swiss ski resort, attracts many of the world's top political and business leaders.
Katy Wright, Oxfam's head of global external affairs, said the report helped the charity to "challenge the political and economic elites".
"We're under no illusions that Davos is anything other than a talking shop for the world's elite, but we try and use that focus," she added.
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The world's eight richest billionaires
1. Bill Gates (US): co-founder of Microsoft (net worth $75bn)
2. Amancio Ortega (Spain): founder of Zara owner Inditex (net worth $67bn)
3. Warren Buffett (US): largest shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway (net worth $60.8bn)
4. Carlos Slim Helu (Mexico): owner of Grupo Carso (net worth $50bn)
5. Jeff Bezos (US): founder and chief executive of Amazon (net worth $45.2bn)
6. Mark Zuckerberg (US): co-founder and chief executive of Facebook (net worth $44.6bn)
7. Larry Ellison (US): co-founder and chief executive of Oracle (net worth $43.6bn)
8. Michael Bloomberg (US): owner of Bloomberg LP (net worth $40bn)
Source: Forbes billionaires' list, March 2016
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UK economist Gerard Lyons said focusing on extreme wealth "does not always give the full picture" and attention should be paid to "making sure the economic cake is getting bigger".
However, he said Oxfam was right to single out companies that it believed fuelled inequality with business models that were "increasingly focused on delivering ever-higher returns to wealthy owners and top executives".
Oxfam's Ms Wright said economic inequality was fuelling a polarisation in politics, citing Donald Trump's election as US president and the Brexit vote as examples.
'Fair share'
"People are angry and calling out for alternatives. They're feeling left behind because however hard they work they can't share in their country's growth," she said.
The charity is calling for "a more human economy" and is urging governments to crack down on executive pay and tax evasion and impose higher taxes on the wealthy.
It also wants business leaders to pay a "fair share of tax" and has urged companies to pay staff the "living wage", which is higher than the government's National Living Wage.
Oxfam has produced similar reports for the past four years. In 2016 it calculated that the richest 62 people in the world had as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population.
The number had fallen to just eight this year because more accurate data was now available, Oxfam said.
It was still the case that the world's richest 1% had as much wealth as the rest of the world combined, Oxfam said.
Some of the eight richest billionaires have given away tens of billions of dollars. In 2000 Bill Gates and his wife Melinda set up a private foundation that has an endowment of more than $44bn.
In 2015 Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan pledged to give away 99% of their net worth in their lifetimes, which equated to about $45bn based on the value of Facebook shares at the time.
It takes cash and assets worth $71,600 to get into the top 10%, and $744,396 to be in the top 1%.
Oxfam's report is based on data from Forbes and the annual Credit Suisse Global Wealth datebook, which gives the distribution of global wealth going back to 2000.
The survey uses the value of an individual's assets, mainly property and land, minus debts, to determine what he or she "owns". The data excludes wages or income.
The methodology has been criticised as it means that a student with high debts, but with high future earning potential, for example, would be considered poor under the criteria used.
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