Number of millionaires exploding while rest of population becomes poorer. - The number of millionaires in the world is due to increase strongly over the coming years - a figure which could even explode, according to forecasts by the consultancy WealthInsight. In the US alone, the number is due to increase by 500,000. At the end of 2013, the number of people holding wealth of a least a million dollars ready to invest rose to 12.5 million - in other words, practically double the number in 2008 (up 46%). By the end of the year, WealthInsight anticipates a 22.6% rise in the number of millionaires in Indonesia (+8,362 people), a 17.1% rise in India (+42,921) and a 10% rise in Nigeria (+1,590). Despite suffering an economic slowdown in recent months, China, Brazil and Turkey should also see their millionaires increase by around 8%. With a total number of 1.38 million millionaires anticipated before the end of the year, China is likely to equal Germany (1.381 million for China and 1.378 million for Germany), while India (294,000) should overtake Italy (265,000). Experts underline that a new class of rich is emerging from the MINT countries (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey), which are growing rapidly and which have taken over from the BRICs with one difference - the new Mexican, Indonesian, Nigerian and Turkish millionaires are much younger. In Europe, France should record a 2% growth in its millionaires (566,000 people), the UK a 6.6% growth (720,000), Germany a 3.9% growth (1.378 million) and Italy a 2.4% growth (265,000). The US remains the true home of the millionaire (+9.5% by the end of 2014, or 5.728 million), ahead of Japan (+2.1%, or 2.196 million). Experts are concerned at the impact of this development as some countries, where the number of millionaires is growing, are experiencing a great expansion of poverty - such as Nigeria. Inequalities continue to grow, therefore - particularly in the BRICs and in the MINT countries, while corruption has not been brought under control. Oxfam shares this observation. As part of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Oxfam published a report on putting an end to extreme inequalities - a report which notes that inequalities have risen in most countries since the start of the crisis in 2008. Today, nearly half of global wealth is held by 1% of the population, compared with 2% before the crisis, and the 85 richest people in the world own as much as the poorest half of the population. This 1% - whose wealth is assessed at $110 trillion - has increased its share of income in 24 of the 26 countries for which data were available between 1980 and 2012. In Europe, the combined wealth of the ten richest people stands at €217 billion. Oxfam criticises financial deregulation, biased tax systems and tax evasion - which benefit the richest. (IL/transl.fl)