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Ukrainian Economy
Economy

Coronavirus has increased global inequality: pandemic has spawned millions of new wealthy people

Author
Anton Korzh

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the increase in the number of millionaires in the world. By the end of 2020, 56.1 million people had a fortune of more than $1 million—5.2 million more than at the end of 2019, according to data from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report.

A third of the number of new millionaires was added by the United States—plus 1.7 million people with a fortune exceeding a million dollars.

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In India, Indonesia, and Russia, every thousandth adult resident of the country has become a millionaire. In Italy and Spain, millionaires accounted for 3% of the total population, in France, Austria, and Germany—4%, in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden—about 6%.

In the United States and Hong Kong, 8% of the population are millionaires, in Australia—9%. Most millionaires are there in Switzerland—15% of the population.

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Meanwhile, only 1% of the global number of millionaires are the dollar ones.

The report notes that the pandemic has led to a massive increase in wealth inequality around the world. In countries where there was no government support, many millionaires went broke, spent themselves into debts, or spent some of their savings. Mostly those whose fortune was closer to the floor fell into this category. Conversely, the high-income group of the population not only was not affected by the pandemic, but also made a considerable profit on it.

Context. During the pandemic, over 150 million people around the world have become poor. Mainly, representatives of the so-called middle class were affected—more than 108 million people lost their savings and became poor.

In Ukraine, the poverty rate among the working population as of February 1, 2021 exceeded 50%. Previously, the poor were 42.4%—as of the end of the first half of 2020.

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