Experts say gender, education and healthcare inequality is just as worrying as disparities in wealth
Comes in response to news that 62 people are richer that half the world's population combined
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Your support makes all the difference.News that global wealth inequality has risen dramatically over the past five years has inspired social media users to list all the other ways the world is an increasingly unequal place.
Gender inequality, unequal opportunities in the workplace, and massive disparities in education, healthcare and domestic security were all flagged as issues that needed addressing.
SDPI, an independent Pakistani policy research think-tank, took to Twitter to say: “Inequality in Pakistan is mainly driven by inequalities in opportunities.”
They added that another of the biggest issues facing the country is “regional inequality”, which is driven by the wealthiest and best-educated moving to work in major cities leaving poorer regions to slip behind.
Regional equality was also raised by the charity Save the Children, who said: “In India, a child born in Assam is 6 times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than a child born in Goa. “
Climate change expert Assaad Razzouk raised the question of climate inequality, sharing a map that shows the world’s poorest people overwhelmingly live in the world’s hottest countries.
Meanwhile ActionAid pointed out that there are major divisions between men and women in terms of wealth, tweeting: “Inequality is a gender issue too. Women make up 60% of world’s working poor but average 10-30% less pay than men.”
Others criticised the concept of equality, however, using simple cartoons to illustrate how some countries and individuals are already so far behind that simply levelling the playing field will not be enough. Instead, they argue, changes need to be made to stack the odds dramatically in favour of those suffering from inequality if we are ever to live in a truly equal world.
The responses following the release of a new report conducted on behalf of Oxfam which found that the wealth of the poorest half of the world’s population – 3.6 billion people – has fallen by 41 per cent, or a trillion US dollars, since 2010.
While this group has become poorer, the wealth of the richest 62 people on the planet has increased by more than half a trillion dollars to $1.76 trillion.
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