Less than one per cent of the wealth created since 2000 has gone to the poorest 50 per cent of the world's population, new research has revealed.

The finding comes as the world’s richest business leaders and most powerful heads of state gather in Davos for the start of the annual four-day summit.

Fifteen years into the millennium, the evidence suggests the world’s rich are only getting richer, while the least well-off half of the world remain in borderline poverty.

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The poorest 3.5 billion people across the globe earn less than £830 ($1,200) a year – that’s £2.30 a day. The same group own less than one per cent of all the world’s wealth.

They own so little that the world’s 62 richest people own as much as all of them combined, Oxfam revealed earlier this week.

In pictures: The world’s top billionaires Show all 20 1 /20 In pictures: The world’s top billionaires In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 1. Bill Gates (USA) Wealth: US$ 85Bn (Microsoft) Pictured: Seattle home own by Bill Gates Corbis In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 2. Carlso Slim Helu (Mexico) Wealth: US$ 83Bn (America Movil) Pictured: Soumaya museum in Mexico own by Carlos Slim Helu Getty In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 3. Warren Buffett (USA) Wealth: US$ 76Bn (Berkshire Hathaway) Pictured: Warren Buffett also owns Heinz company Rex In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 4. Amancio Ortega (Spain) Wealth: US$ 55Bn (Inditex) Pictured: Amancio Ortega in one of the factories he owns, including Zara REUTERS/ AP In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 5. Larry Ellison (USA) Wealth: US$ 54Bn (Oracle) Pictured: Ellison in his Japanese-style mansion In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 6. Bernard Arnault (France) Wealth: US$ 45Bn (LVMH) Pictured: Bernard Arnault (second from the right) at the Christian Dior fashion show in Paris Getty In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 7. Mark Zuckerberg (USA) Wealth: US$ 44Bn (Facebook) Pictured: The slice of Hawaii, including the Kahu’aina Plantation owned by Mark Zuckerberg Kahu’aina Plantation/BCM In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 8. Charles Koch (USA) Wealth: US$ 36Bn (Koch Industries) Pictured: Charles Koch, head of Koch Industries, talks passionately about his new book on Market Based Management Getty In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 9. David Koch (USA) Wealth: US$ 36Bn (Koch Industries) Pictured: David Koch stands in the future site of the new David H. Koch Plaza during the Fifth Avenue Plaza Groundbreaking at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on in New York City Getty In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 10. Dieter Schwarz (Germany) Wealth: US$ 36Bn (Schwarz Group) Pictured: Supermarket chain Lidl, where Dieter Schwarz is the chairman and CEO Getty In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 11. Alice Walton (USA) Wealth: US$ 35Bn (Wal-Mart) Pictured: Alice Walton is a heiress to the fortune of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. She is the daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and Helen Walton, and sister of S. Robson Walton and Jim Walton Corbis In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 12. Christy Walton (USA) Wealth: US$ 35Bn (Wal-Mart) Pictured: Christy Walton is the widow of John T. Walton, one of the sons of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 13. Jim Walton (USA) Wealth: US$ 34Bn (Wal-Mart) Pictured: Jim Walton is the youngest son of Sam Walton, the founder of world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Walmart Corporate/Creative Commons In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 14. S. Robson Walton (USA) Wealth: US$ 34Bn (Wal-Mart) Pictured: Samuel Robson "Rob" Walton is the eldest son of Helen Walton and Sam Walton, founder of Wal-mart Getty In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 15. Liliane Bettencourt (France) Wealth: US$ 33Bn (L'Oreal) Pictured: The house of France's L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt at Formentor, in Pollensa, on the Spanish Island of Mallorca Getty In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 16. Li Ka-shing (China) Wealth: US$ 32Bn (Cheung Kong) Pictured: The Cheung Kong Centre in Hong Kong, owned by the Cheung Kong Group which belongs to Li Ka Shing Rex In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 17. Larry Page (USA) Wealth: US$ 31Bn (Google) Pictured: The reception area at Google's offices, owned by Larry Page, in Washington Getty In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 18. Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud (Saudi Arabia) Wealth: US$ 30Bn (Kingdom Holding Company) Pictured: Fireworks light up the skyof Beirut during the opening ceremony of the new seafront Movenpick Hotel, owned by Saudi billionaire Al-Walid bin Talal Getty In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 19. Gérard Mulliez (France) Wealth: US$ 30Bn (Auchan) Pictured: Auchan groupe headquarters in Croix, owned by Gérard Mulliez Getty In pictures: The world’s top billionaires 20. Karl Albrecht Jr (Germany) Wealth: US$ 30Bn (Aldi Sud) Pictured: Supermarket chain Aldi, inherited by Karl Albrecht Jr, son of Karl Hans Albrecht, one of the main co-founders of the Aldi company Getty

In other words, each of these 62 billionaires is as rich as 60 million people.

Here’s how the world’s wealth is divided. Most of it is owned by the top one per cent.

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While income and wealth are not the same thing, the wealthiest one per cent typically earn at least £35,000.

These are the people who have profited over the past 15 years. For every $1 of wealth created, they have earned 51¢, while the poorest 3.5 billion have earned less than 1¢.

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The two pies are almost identical. The top one per cent continue to account for the majority of the new wealth.

As a result, the share of income going to the top one per cent is higher than ever, while the share going to the poorest 50 per cent remains almost non-existent.

Since the end of the global financial crisis in 2009, the share going to the top 1 per cent has risen from 44 per cent to 50 per cent.

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The world’s developed countries spent $135bn on foreign aid in 2014.

That’s enough to give each of the people who make up the world’s poorest half an extra $39 – a five-per-cent pay rise for the richest among them, and a much greater increase for the poorest.

But that would leave them with a pittance compared to the earnings of the world’s richest.

As world leaders gather in Davos, the message is clear: While extreme poverty has been reduced in the past fifteen years, relative poverty is greater than ever.

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Inequality in the developed world

These findings, uncovered in Oxfam’s research by the Independent, echo the rise in pay inequality across the developed world.

Over the past four decades, the pay of American chief executives has risen 11 times as much as that of the typical American worker.

While American companies are now six times as valuable as they were in 1978, the pay of the American worker has barely risen.

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Many Americans feature in the world’s top one per cent. Compared to the rest of the world, they have benefitted over the past 15 years.

But it is their bosses who have profited most since 2000.

It’s the same story in the UK. Last year FTSE, chief executives earned more than 180 times as much as the average worker.

So far in 2016, the typical FTSE boss has earned £230,000 in less than three weeks.

That’s more than five times as much as the poorest 3.5 billion people in the world will earn in a lifetime of work.

And yet FTSE 100 companies are not any more valuable collectively than they were in 2000.

For most of the past 15 years, they have been less valuable.

And so far in 2016, the FTSE 100 has lost nearly a 10th of its value, while its chief executives have been paid almost £250,000.