World's 26 richest own same as poorest half of humanity - Oxfam

The world's 26 richest people now own the same wealth as the poorest half of humanity, Oxfam said Monday, warning that "out of control" inequality is stoking popular anger and threatening democracies.

"We are seeing rich people running away with wealth and poor people sinking in poverty," Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima told AFP in an interview.

A new report from the charity was published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos -- a week-long meeting of the global elite, with three of the 26 richest people set to attend.

The report found that billionaires around the world saw their combined fortunes grow by $2.5 billion (2.2 billion euros) each day in 2018, an annual increase of 12 percent, and urged governments to slap more taxes on the wealthy.

The world's richest man, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, saw his fortune increase to $112 billion last year, Oxfam said, pointing out that just one percent of his wealth was the equivalent to the entire health budget of Ethiopia, a country of 105 million people.

"Oxfam is saying in this report with evidence that extreme inequality is out of control," Byanyima said.

The 3.8 billion people at the bottom of the scale meanwhile saw their...