SMH
GLOBAL INEQUITIES
Three families top 600m poor
Date: 13/07/99
London: The combined wealth of the world's three richest families is greater
than the annual income of 600 million people in the least
developed countries, according to a United Nations report released yesterday.
Economic globalisation is further polarising those such as Microsoft's Mr Bill
Gates, the Walton family, who own the Wal-Mart empire,
and the Sultan of Brunei - worth $US135 billion ($205 billion) combined - and
the millions who have been left behind, the UN's Human
Development report says.
UN figures show that over the past four years, the world's 200 richest people
have doubled their wealth to more than $US1 trillion. In
the same period, the number of people living on less than $US1 a day has
remained unchanged at 1.3 billion.
"Global inequalities in income and living standards have reached grotesque
proportions," the report says. Canada ranks number one again
for quality of life, while war-ravaged Sierra Leone stays bottom of the table.
Australia is ranked seventh.
To counter the downside of globalisation, the UN recommends a forum of business,
trade unions and environmental and development
groups to counter the dominance of the leading industrial nations; a code of
conduct for multinationals; and the creation of a legal centre
to help poor countries with global trade negotiations. - The Guardian
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