The world's 100 richest people earned a stunning total of $240 billion in 2012 – enough money to end extreme poverty worldwide four times over, Oxfam has revealed, adding that the global economic crisis is further enriching the super-rich.

while the income of the top 0.01 percent has seen even greater growth, a new Oxfam report said.For example, the luxury goods market has seen double-digit growth every year since the crisis hit, the report stated. And while the world's 100 richest people earned $240 billion last year, people inlived on less than $1.25 a day.Oxfam is a leading international philanthropy organization. Its new report , ‘The Cost of Inequality: How Wealth and Income Extremes Hurt us All,’ argues that the extreme concentration of wealth actually hinders the world’s ability to reduce poverty.The report was published before the World Economic Forum in Davos next week, and calls on world leaders toOxfam's report argues that extreme wealth is unethical, economically inefficient, politically corrosive, socially divisive and environmentally destructive.The report proposes a new global deal to world leaders to curb extreme poverty to 1990s levels by:- closing tax havens, yielding $189bn in additional tax revenues- reversing regressive forms of taxation- introducing a global minimum corporation tax rate- boosting wages proportional to capital returns- increasing investment in free public servicesThe problem is a global one, Oxfam said:In the US, the richest 1 percent's share of income has doubled since 1980 from 10 to 20 percent, according to the report. For the top 0.01 percent, their share of national income quadrupled, reaching levels never seen before.Executive Director of Oxfam International Jeremy Hobbs said.Hobbs explained that concentration of wealth in the hands of the top few minimizes economic activity, making it harder for others to participate:The report highlights that even politics has become controlled by the super-wealthy, which leads to policiesthe report said.The four-day World Economic Forum will be held in Davos starting next Wednesday. World financial leaders will gather for an annual meeting that will focus on reviving the global economy, the eurozone crisis and the conflicts in Syria and Mali.