Living on less than $2 dollars a day: Only 5 percent of global wealth belongs to the poorest 80 percent of the world

The staggering increasing inequality among the wealthy and poor around the world continues to be a pressing issue. Eighty rich billionaires have as much money as 3.5 billion of the poorest people.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The wealthy are occuring their riches at an increasing rate, according to Oxfam's 2015 report.

Oxfam is an international confederation of organizations aimed at finding solutions to poverty and what it considers injustice around the world.

In 2010, the wealthy together had a net wealth of $1.3 trillion. By the end of 2014, the number was $1.9 trillion. They increased their wealth by $600 billion in just four years, while the poorest people's wealth continued to decrease, according to Oxfam.

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Oxfam suggests that by 2016, "the richest 1 percent will exceed 50 percent of world wealth by 2016."

Although the current situation is nearly that, the top 1 percent own 48 percent of the world's wealth.

35 of the 80 richest people in the world are US citizens.

70 of them are men and 68 are 50-years-old or older.

"The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering," Oxfam's executive director said in a statement. "The gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast."

This leaves many wondering what, if anything, should be done to fill in the gap? China and the US are looking at tax reforms that are targeted toward the wealthy.

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Oxfam believes the "lobbying power of top corporations could get in the way" of that plan, though.

The reality is that billions of people around the world live on less than $2 a day, and there has to be some way to help those in need.

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