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According to Oxfam, in 2019 the world’s billionaires had more wealth than 60% of the global population. Then there’s the world’s richest 1%, most of them men, who hold double the wealth of 90% of the global population.

The World Social Report 2020, published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), shows that income inequality has increased in most developed countries, and some middle-income countries, including China, which has the world’s fastest-growing economy.

To crack the 1% in South Africa, you need to be raking in R2,54 million a year, before tax.

COVID-19 has presented a unique opportunity to see how those in different income brackets stay safe, with some interesting trends emerging among the super-rich.

Per TimesLIVE, while a number of industries suffered during lockdowns, the world of luxury aviation and yachting has been thriving, and not just overseas.

Private jets and charter flights have provided a simpler and safer way to travel, albeit a more expensive one.

Philip du Preez, general manager at ExecuJet in Cape Town, says that demand for charter flights has been on the rise, mainly because it reduces the time that executives and contractors spend on procedures and awaiting connections, especially to get around Africa.

Heightened concern around COVID-19 has also spurred the wealthy to take advantage of safer travel options, such as the isolation of a private jet.

In the UK, Miles Moorhouse, head of marketing at Fairline Yachts, says that more and more yacht owners, with yachts stationed in different ports around the world, have been bringing them home so that they can spend more time on the water and away from the pandemic.

If that isn’t possible, they’ll buy a smaller yacht to use until they can access the larger one.

“People are saying, let’s enjoy our wealth while we still can,” he says, adding that a significant benefit of luxury yachts is that they allow you to remain isolated with only people you know.”

Others prefer to spend their time in their palatial homes.

COVID-19 brought the unsettling reality of a global pandemic, not only in the present but in the future, into the spotlight. This, along with climate change, the effects of which can already be seen in a rise in disasters like the recent California wildfires, has inspired the super-rich to start planning for their survival in other ways.

The Financial Times points out that bunkers and doomsday prepping is no longer just the domain of conspiracy theorists.

Wealthy individuals are preparing to protect themselves from climate change and any new health emergency by tapping an increasingly bespoke range of personal services like concierge medical services, specialist real estate agents, and crisis experts, while snapping up private hideaways that are out of reach for ordinary citizens.

The World Health Organization has predicted that climate change will, between 2030 and 2050, cause 250 000 additional deaths a year due to heat stress and the spread of infectious diseases.

Some of the measures that the super-rich are putting in place include:

• Hiring high-end medical practices to create personal preventative strategies, including checking that homes are sealed against smoke and delivering at-home intravenous fluids and vitamins to bolster their bodies’ defences.
• Investing in survival kits and personalised cooling devices.
• Buying climate-controlled luxury bunkers kitted out with everything needed to isolate in style.

You can read more on that here.

The vast majority of the world will be left to its own devices.

Josh Karliner, a director at Health Care Without Harm, points out that while the health effects of climate change were less obvious than the pandemic, the pandemic feels like a “dress rehearsal for the coming climate crisis”.

Without the luxury of a bunker or the other trimmings that wealth can provide, it’s going to be a rough ride.

[sources:timeslive&financialtimes]