We’ve heard the ol’ income inequality song before. In 2018, Oxfam released a report noting the world’s richest 26 individuals had the same amount of dough as the poorest half of the population (3.8B people), politicians discuss it ad nauseam on the campaign trail, and, most importantly, breathing humans actually feel it every day.
So how bad is the global wealth gap?
It’s bad enough that even rich people are like ‘Whoa, I’m really rich…’
A recent wealth chart from Bloomberg — meant to focus in on the many tiers of “millionaires” and “billionaires” — helps illustrate the disparity, by allowing us to compare our own net worth to the world’s poorest and richest.
What if you can’t afford bootstraps?
The chart tops out at 11, AKA Bezos & Gates territory, and goes down to -2, (in what the chart generalizes as a vast population of “subsistence farmers”).
There are 150 people who have a ranking of 10, meaning they have a net worth of $10B on the low end (fun fact: Oprah Winfrey is not one of them).
There are a few other “average American” tiers, and then there’s me. I rank, along with 1.5B others, in the bottom tier — meaning I can afford “very little.” And guess what? The friggin’ chart is spot-on. I can afford very little. And I have a full-time job!
Go ahead, give it a try.