The world’s richest one per cent are on track to control as much as two-thirds of all wealth by 2030.

An analysis produced by the British House of Commons library suggests that if trends seen since the 2008 financial crash were to continue, then the top 1 per cent will hold 64 per cent of the world’s wealth by 2030.

Since 2008, the wealth of the richest 1 per cent has been growing at an average of 6 per cent a year – much faster than the 3 per cent growth in wealth of the remaining 99 per cent of the world’s population. Should that continue, the top 1 per cent would hold wealth equating to $305 trillion – up from $140 trillion today.

According to the report wealth has become concentrated at the top because of recent income inequality, higher rates of saving among the wealthy, and the accumulation of assets. The wealthy also invested a large amount of equity in businesses, stocks and other financial assets, which have handed them disproportionate benefits.

New polling by Opinium published in The Observer newspaper suggests that the public perceive a major problem with the influence exerted by the very wealthy.

Asked to select a group that would have the most power in 2030, most (34 per cent) said the super-rich, while 28
per cent opted for national governments.

In a sign of falling levels of trust, those surveyed said they feared the consequences of wealth inequality would be rising levels of corruption (41 per cent) or the “super-rich enjoying unfair influence on government policy” (43 per cent).