[Request] Is this true?
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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![[Request] Is this true?](https://meta.cdns.win/en/2025/02/Request-Is-this-true-860x601.webp)
I‘m not sure how exactly the statement is meant so I’ll interpret it one way but also state other ways how it could be interpreted.
“The ten richest men…” could either mean each of them individually or all of them combined. I‘ll go with individually.
“Their riches” I assume this means net worth
“Richer than 99%” could mean the wealth of the 99% combined, could mean the average wealth of the 99% or could mean the highest amount of money anyone in the 99% has. I‘ll go with highest
Wealth of 10th richest person: 121 billion. -99.999% that’s 1.21 million.
1.1% of adults have at least 1 million ([source](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wealth-needed-to-join-the-top-1-by-country/)) so when having 1 million you can still be in the lowest 99%.
So it might be true, it’s close
Elon musk net work 400,000,000,000. Times 0.0001 leaves 4 million. Tenth richest is huang with 118 billion. Do 1.18 million left over. It’s safe to say this is true.
If the richest man had $200b and lost 99% of it, they’d have $2b.
Now, at 99.999%, that’s $2,000,000 they’d be rich but not that rich, but compared to the average consumer, yes.
The claim is effectively true, illustrating just how large the wealth gap is.
[Top 10 Richest Individuals (Approximate Data)](https://www.forbes.com/consent/ketch/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/)
Person Approx. Net Worth usd.
Bernard Arnault 190–210 B
Elon Musk 180–200 B
Jeff Bezos 120–140 B
Bill Gates 110–120 B
Warren Buffett 100–110 B
Larry Ellison ~100 B
Steve Ballmer ~90 B
Larry Page ~90 B
Sergey Brin ~85 B
Mukesh Ambani ~80 B
(Totals and exact amounts vary with markets, but a combined figure near or above $1 trillion for these ten is reasonable.)
After Losing 99.999%
• If someone has $100 billion and loses 99.999%:
• Remaining fraction = 0.00001.
• Remaining wealth = $100,000,000,000 times 0.00001 = $1,000,000.
Even at the low end ($80 billion), the leftover is $800,000.
Global Wealth Distribution
According to the [Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report](https://www.ubs.com/global/en/wealthmanagement/insights/global-wealth-report.html) (2022 and other recent years), the net worth threshold for entering the top 1% worldwide is roughly $1–1.2 million. It fluctuates, but $1 million is a commonly cited figure for being near the top 1% of global wealth.
Comparing the Leftover Wealth
• Even the “poorest” of these ten, after losing 99.999%, would have at least $800,000–$1,000,000 left.
• Many would have $1–2 million or more remaining.
This amount (close to or above $1 million) does indeed place them in or near the top 1% of global net worth.
Conclusion
• Mathematically: Subtracting 99.999% from a multi-billion-dollar fortune leaves a lot of money behind
• Wealth Distribution: That remainder still places them at or near the top 1% globally.
And The claim is effectively true,
The average American is a millionaire.
Sounds crazy, no? But it’s true. (Shh, ignore that the median American net worth is under $200K.)
Another fun fact. If the US government straight up confiscated all that wealth and could spend it without any loss in value, they would burn through it all in about four months.
[deleted]
It is probably true, but I don’t understand why it is surprising to people. The richest people are very rich… wow, what a shocker.
Poverty in the US makes you richer than most of the world. There is a major wealth gap here in the US, but this doesn’t mean what people think it means.
if you’ve got a roof over your head, food in the fridge, a job, money in the bank and some spare change, you’re richer than 99% of the world
most of the world can’t even read
Another harrowing fact: if we took all the wealth of the billionaires in the US (liquid and not liquid) it would run the government for 3-6 months
I’ll say this: Robert Reich is intelligent and experienced. He doesn’t fuck around so if he said it, it’s probably true.
Fun fact, his son Sam owns dropout.tv which used to be college humor.
Any assets over a billion should be distributed to a wealth fund and the proceeds of the interest should be used for universal needs among the population, science research, healthcare, and then philanthropy towards the poorest countries on earth on up.
The assets aren’t sold, but remain in their non-liquid form, and the interest on the value of those investments is used. Whatever yada yada, it can be done in a way that doesn’t fuck things up I’m sure.
Just fuck billionaires. They do that, or they get the guillotine.
Remember that majority of population on the planet are poor Chinese, Indian and African people. They don’t have a single £/$/€ in their pocket (and often no pockets at all).
The **total global wealth** is an estimated **$500 trillion**.
The top 1% controls about 46% of the total global wealth, leaving the **bottom 99%** with **$270 trillion**.
The **top 10 richest men** together own about **$1.5 trillion**.
Total population is about **8 billion**.
0.001% of $1.5 trillion is **$15 million.**
$270 trillion divided by 8 billion people equals **$33,750**.
So, even if the richest people lose 99.999% of their wealth, they are still on average **444 times** richer than the bottom 99%.
This is depressing. I’m going to get drunk.
Free Luigi!
To put this into perspective: the part of the population they would then be a part of is the top 1%, which out of 8 billion people is 80 million people, instead of 10 people.
So, it appears that this is likely true. HOWEVER!!! It is missing an absolute crapload of context. Using numbers off a few light internet searches, shows us a totally different perspective.
In the world, there is about 469 trillion in total wealth (NOTE, there is some degree of double counting in the figures below but I couldn’t be bothered to sort it all out. Also, I might not have gotten the real “ten richest people” but again it doesn’t matter. None of it makes a measurable difference and certainly doesn’t impact the point I am making). The 10 richest people have about 1.9 trillion in total wealth.
Here’s how the wealth breaks down per area of the world:
N America $151 trillion (386 million population or 4.2% of the global population) — about 391.6k average wealth per person (about 32.1% of the global wealth)
Europe $104 trillion (742 million population or 8.1% of the global population) — about 140.7k average wealth per person (about 22.2% of the global wealth)
Asia-Pacific $93.3 trillion (2.9 billion population or 31.7% of the global population) — about 32.3k average wealth per person (about 19.8% of the global wealth)
China $84.4 trillion (1.4 billion population or 15.5% of the global population) — about 59.8k average wealth per person(about 17.9% of the global wealth)
Latin America $15 trillion (666 million population or 7.3% of the global population) — about 22.6k average wealth per person (about 3.2% of the global wealth)
India $15.3 trillion (1.4 billion population or 16% of the global population) — about 10.5k average wealth per person (about 3.2% of the global wealth)
Africa $5.9 trillion (1.5 billion population or 16.9% of the global population) — about 3.8k average wealth per person (about 1.2% of the global wealth)
9 of the 10 richest people (that I could find) are Americans. One is French. If we remove their wealth, then N American wealth per person drops to about 387.4k average wealth per person and Europe’s wealth per person drops to 140.4k average wealth per person. These numbers still mean very little since they are just averages. Most North Americans don’t have 387,400+ in wealth.
However, we can use them to get an idea of what average people have because all countries have rich people eating up the vast majority of the wealth and the rest of us are fighting for scraps. So, if we use these numbers to represent average wealth comparisons rather than looking at the numbers themselves, we can still see that North Americans are far and away the most wealthy people in the world, then Europe, even with the richest few removed. The wealth in these two regions far outstrips anything else in the world. In fact, if you add up N. America and Europe, the total wealth is 253.7 trillion and the average per person 224.9k. The rest of the world has 214 trillion in wealth with an average of 26.9k per person. It isn’t even close.
So again, the question is lacking any meaningful context because the average person living in N. America or Europe (or any number of other wealthy countries in the world) are also at the very, very top of a very large pyramid. Even the homeless in N. America and Europe have it better off their their homeless peers in truly poor countries.
Steve Ballmer is #10 on that list at a 122.3 Billion USD. If he had 0.001% of that, he would still have 122.3 million dollars.
It’s actually pretty easy math.
*I’m* in the top few richest per cent of people in the world, and I can tell you I’m not remotely rich, I just live in a wealthy country.
All of their wealth is tied up in their companies, so that basically means we also wouldn’t have Microsoft, Apple, Google etc… those three companies alone have probably had the most transformative effect on the human race since… automobiles, airplanes, fire?
World wide isn’t a good comparison either. A busker on the streets of London is also wealthier than a large portion of the global population
To calculate 0.001% of the sum of the total net worth of the ten richest men combined, we’ll need to:
1. Identify the ten richest men in the world.
2. Find their combined total net worth.
3. Calculate 0.001% of this amount.
According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list (2023), the top 10 richest men in the world are:
1. Bernard Arnault – Net Worth: $214 Billion
2. Elon Musk – Net Worth: $195 Billion
3. Jeff Bezos – Net Worth: $118 Billion
4. Bill Gates – Net Worth: $113 Billion
5. Warren Buffett – Net Worth: $103 Billion
6. Larry Ellison – Net Worth: $102 Billion
7. Michael Bloomberg – Net Worth: $94.5 Billion
8. Carlos Slim Helú – Net Worth: $93.2 Billion
9. Larry Page – Net Worth: $88.2 Billion
10. Sergey Brin – Net Worth: $86.4 Billion
Combined Total Net Worth: $1.207 Trillion
Now, let’s calculate 0.001% of this amount:
0.001% of $1,207,000,000,000 = $12,070,000
So, 0.001% of the combined total net worth of the ten richest men is approximately $12.07 million.
To estimate the percentage of the global population that a net worth of $12.07 million would place you above, we’ll need to consider the global wealth distribution.
According to the 2022 Global Wealth Report by Credit Suisse, the worldwide wealth distribution is as follows:
– The top 1% of the global population holds approximately 38.5% of the world’s wealth.
– The next 9% hold around 35.5% of the world’s wealth.
– The remaining 90% hold about 26% of the world’s wealth.
Using the report’s wealth distribution data, we can estimate that:
– The top 1% have a net worth above approximately $744,000.
– The top 0.1% have a net worth above approximately $2.76 million.
– The top 0.01% have a net worth above approximately $11.8 million.
Considering these estimates, a net worth of $12.07 million would likely place you within the top 0.01% to 0.005% of the global population.
To give you a better idea, here’s a rough estimate of the number of people with a net worth above $12.07 million:
Assuming a global population of approximately 7.92 billion (2023 estimate), the top 0.01% would correspond to around 792,000 individuals.
Given that a net worth of $12.07 million is slightly above the estimated threshold for the top 0.01%, you would likely be above approximately 99.99% of the global population.
(thanks AI for the above work)
It doesn’t even take $1mil to be in the top 1%. So this is technically true but lacks important context.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/01/how-much-money-you-need-to-be-part-of-the-1-percent-worldwide.html
Come on OP, that’s some easy math to do. Look up the 10 richest people. I’m too lazy to look it up but #10 is probably worth something around $100 billion. 0.001% of $100 billion is $1 million. Yes, having a net worth of $1 million still puts you in the top 1%.