Summary (English)

This report has been produced under the Even It Up campaign launched by Oxfam worldwide, which demands that leaders around the world take action to tackle extreme inequality,contributing to a debate that is already on the political and economic agenda.

Inequality has grown to extreme levels. Today seven out of ten people live in countries where the gap between the rich and poor is greater than it was thirty years ago. Last year Oxfam calculated that in 2014 the richest 85 people on the planet owned as much as the poorest half of humanity – and between March 2013 and March 2014 these 85 people grew 688 us$ million richer every day.

Oxfam’s report documents how this rapid rise of extreme economic inequality is bad for everybody. It corrupts politics, hinders economic growth, stifles social mobility, and fuels crime and instability – even violent conflict. Crucially it is also standing in the way of efforts to eliminate poverty. The political and economic choices which have allowed a small elite to take more than they need have also left hundreds of millions of people without access to clean drinking water and without enough food to feed their families. The report then highlights some of the concrete steps that can be taken to tackle this threat, namely in terms of social protection and social health protection, and presents evidence that change can happen.