1% own quarter of the country’s wealth

A new study has revealed that the UK's richest 1% of the population own almost a quarter of the country’s wealth, according to Credit Suisse. 

This statistic goes much deeper—further research shows that the richest 5% of the UK populace own a massive 44% of all wealth in the country. While this means that the elite are incredibly rich, this means that the remaining 56% of the UK's wealth is left to be distributed to the remaining 95% of the population. In line with headlines that the now-infamous ‘Brexit’ decision has wiped a massive £1.2 trillion from UK household wealth (equivalent to £44,000 per household), it looks as if the gulf between the rich elite and the working/middle classes is getting wider. 

However, it’s not all doom and gloom—with the rise of entrepreneurialism all over the world (thanks in large part to the rising technological advances of the modern age), the number of millionaires and billionaires is increasing faster than any other economic group, with global wealth having increased 1.4% in 2015 alone. With over 13.4m recognised millionaires (that is, those with personal wealth over US $1m) in the world, the UK holds strong in this arena—the UK alone is home to 2.2m self-confessed millionaires, equivalent to 1 in every 15 of the world’s millionaires, and also has the world’s third-highest number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (with wealth of over $50m), behind only the USA and China, at 9,000.