One Percent Hold 50 Percent of World Wealth

The Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report was released Tuesday, with special focus on wealth inequalities across the world.

The report says that household wealth has recently risen by $ 20.1 trillion over the past year to reach $ 263 trillion and is concerned over the consequences of such a rapid growth on the world economy. Over 50 percent of the world's wealth is concentrated in the hands of 1 percent of the world's rich giving rise to fears of a recession.

"Taken together, the bottom half of the global population own less than 1% of total wealth. In sharp contrast, the richest decile hold 87% of the world's wealth, and the top percentile alone account for 48.2% of global assets," according to the annual report

The $20.1 trillion rise in global wealth over the past year is the largest recorded since 2007. The total has risen every year since 2008 and is now 20 percent above its pre-crisis peak, the report says.

According to the report, the average person is worth $56,000. And if you have $3600 including the value of your home, you are among the richest half of the world. To be in the top 10 percent of the rich, you need to have $77,000 in personal wealth.

The world's richest country with an average wealth per adult exceeding $500,00 is Switzerland, followed by Australia at $431,000, Norway comes third with $359,00 and the United States comes fourth with $348,000.

Among emerging markets, India and China are predicted to account for a large portion of personal wealth.  India and China have  risen by a factor of 3.1 and 4.6 respectively since 2000 although  both lost  momentum in the recession period of 2000-2008.