The 30 richest people in Slovakia own as much property as one-quarter of the working Slovak population, the Pravda daily reports. According to their calculations, this is about the same sum owned by the 550,000 poorest working people in Slovakia.
The situation in the country follows the global trend where the 85 richest people in the world own the same amount as the 3.5 billion poorest, which equals around half of the global population. “The trend in which the rich get richer and the middle class and poor become poorer is leading to the frustration and unrest seen in many countries. This is linked to job losses and the ‘untouchability’ of the rich, who avoid paying taxes, but also to the promises of politicians that they will do more, but this doesn't happen”, said sociologist Zuzana Kusá. Around one-fifth of Slovak households are living on incomes of less than €500 per month. That would be something difficult to imagine for Slovakia’s richest man, Andrej Babiš whose property is said to be worth €5 billion.
