London, June 20: The gap between America's rich and poor is reportedly at an extreme high, much higher than many developing countries like Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, and even Yemen.
According to the Central Investigative Agency's (CIA) World Fact Book, which ranks countries in terms of how 'equally' wealth is distributed, the U.S. is the 42nd most unequal country in the world, the Daily Mail reports.
It has been ranked way behind the European Union and the United Kingdom in terms of equality of pay. In fact, the situation is so extreme that it has even been placed behind countries such as Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.
It is reportedly just ahead of Uganda and Jamaica.
Although income disparity in the U.S. has been growing for decades, the latest figures show that it has now reached levels not seen since the Great Depression.
Ten percent of the total personal income in America was taken home by the top 0.1 percent of earners in 2008, the latest year for which figures are available.
Research suggests the reason for this extraordinary disparity is a huge rise in pay for company executives.
'Basically, executives represent a much bigger share of the top incomes than a lot of people had thought. Before, we just didn't know who these people were," economist Jon Bakija, a professor at Williams College who with his co-authors is continuing the research, said.
Source: Asian News International/DailyIndia.com
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