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For the first time, half the world’s population is now middle class, researchers have claimed.

A new study suggests just over 50 per cent of the world is now in that bracket, for the first time in human history.

The Brookings study said about 3.8 billion live in households with “enough discretionary expenditure to be considered middle class or rich”.

Although this may appear promising – the same number of people are living in households that are poor or vulnerable to poverty, the study said.

The study said “September 2018 marks a global tipping point”.

It added: “After this, for the first time ever, the poor and vulnerable will no longer be a majority in the world.

“Barring some unfortunate global economic setback, this marks the start of a new era of a middle-class majority.”

It explained that houses in “extreme poverty” were classed as spending $1.90 per person per day (about £1.46).

And those in the middle class, the study said, were spending about $11 to $110 per person per day in 2011 (£8.45 to £85).

The “middle class” definition was first developed in 2010