The richest one percent of Americans owns 40 percent of the country’s wealth – the highest share in over 50 years, according to a new study.

Economist Edward N. Wolff did a study for the federal Survey of Consumer Finances in which he found that the wealth owned by the bottom 90 percent in America has decreased since 1962.

In 1962, the top 1 percent owned 33.4 percent of this country’s wealth, according to the study.

Meanwhile, the top 20 percent owned 81 percent of the total wealth in this country, while the bottom 80 percent owned just 19 percent of the wealth.

The trend over the course of the last five decade has seen a greater disparity between rich and poor.

By 1989, the top 20 percent owned 83 percent of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 80 percent owned 17 percent.

Economist Edward N. Wolff did a study for the federal Survey of Consumer Finances in which he found that the wealth owned by the bottom 90 percent in America has decreased since 1962

That same year, the top 1 percent owned 35.2 percent of the country’s wealth. By the late 1990s, the top 1 percent owned 38.1 percent.

In 2001, the top 20 percent held 84.4 percent of all wealth; the bottom 80 percent held 15.6 percent.

But that same year, the top 1 percent’s share of overall wealth fell to 33.4 percent.

Since 2001, the top 1 percent have steadily gained more and more of the country’s wealth.

In 2004, it held 34.3 percent; in 2007, it had 34.6 percent; in 2010, its share rose slightly to 35.1; in 2013, the share was 36.7.

In 2016, the richest 1 percent owned nearly 40 percent of this country’s wealth.

The top 20 percent owns 90 percent of the country's wealth, while the bottom 80 percent owns just 10 percent of all income and net worth.

In September, the Federal Reserve released a study saying that while most American families grew richer between 2013 and 2016, the wealthiest households pulled even further ahead, worsening the nation's massive disparities in wealth and income.

The median net worth of all American families rose 16 percent last year from 2013 to $97,300, according to a Federal Reserve survey.

The median is the point where half of families fall below and half above.

That's the first gain for middle class households since the recession upended the economy nearly a decade ago.

The figures echo data released earlier in September from the Census Bureau, which also showed middle-class incomes rising.

Since 2015, the economic recovery's benefits have been spread broadly, to nearly all income levels and racial and ethnic groups.

But those gains arrived after the first five years of the recovery, when higher-earning households reaped most of the benefits.

A low and falling unemployment rate has helped push up pay, while rising home prices have restored some wealth to middle income families.