In cash terms the top 10% now own £5.0 trillion of UK total household wealth, according to the latest ONS wealth and assets survey (over 2012-14). With total wealth standing at £11.1 trillion, that means they have 44.8% of it.
Last time this was calculated (2010-12), they had £4.1tn of a £9.4tn total – so owned 43.6%.
This increased share of 1.2 percentage points (ppts) is very hefty relative to the past three readings from the ONS.
With the rich gaining percentage share of the pie, others must lose.
The chart below shows the biggest losers are those in the bottom half of the wealth distribution. The lowest 50% have 8.7% this year, down 0.9ppts from 9.6% last year.
The rest of the top half of the wealth distribution (the 40% below the top 10%) also lose but with a smaller decrease of 0.3ppts.
As a result, the most wealthy are catching up with the wealth owned by all the rest of the top half of the wealth distribution – the gap is now at its narrowest yet.
That said, in cash terms, all deciles saw a cash increase in wealth (though for the lowest decile this was because of a less negative figure for financial wealth).
No comments:
Post a Comment