The mountain resort of Davos pictured during last year’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

(The Globe and Mall) – Business leaders and politicians land in the posh Alpine town of Davos, Switzerland, this week where global inequality and what to do about it will dominate discussions.

They meet as a new Oxfam report says that the richest 80 people in the world now have the same amount of wealth as the bottom 3.5 billion of the global population.

It’s not the only study flagging the dangers of the growing wealth gap; global organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development have repeatedly warned that inequality threatens not just the poor, but social cohesion and economic growth as a whole.

“The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering,” Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, said in a statement. “Despite the issue shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast.”

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