What does it mean to be wealthy? The answer to this question varies from culture to culture. In the modernised, industrial world that we live in, wealth generally means all the collected store of valuable things that belong to a person (or family, company or country). Wealth can include money saved in bank accounts, or invested in pension schemes. It can include land, houses or other property and valuable belongings such as works of art or precious jewels. Many people also own stocks and shares in companies. The various things that make up a person's wealth are often called assets.

So wealth is a static thing. The term income, on the other hand, suggests a flow of money. Income is the amount of money that a person (or family or company) receives over a period of time. For most people, this means the salary they get for the work they do. However, there are other sources of income. One source is government benefits, such as unemployment benefit or family support. Another source is rent from property and another is interest from savings.

Huge inequalities in wealth owned by individuals exist in many countries. Take the United Kingdom for example. A fifth of all the marketable wealth is owned by just one per cent of the UK's population. That one per cent own over £355 billion of assets. Figure 1 on page 56 shows how the rest of the United Kingdom's wealth is distributed. As you can see, the richest 50 per cent of the population own over 93 per cent of the wealth. In other words, half the population own nearly all the wealth and the other half own only a tiny percentage. The chart also shows that the richest one per cent of the population own over a fifth of all the country's wealth.

Large inequalities also exist in the distribution of income. The extent of these inequalities can be shown with something called the Lorenz curve. You can see an example in figure 2 below. The straight blue line shows perfectly equal distribution of income. For example, the bottom 20 per cent earn 20 per cent of the total income. The bottom 40 per cent earn 40 per cent and so on. This is the ideal situation. The red curve, however, shows the real situation for the United Kingdom. You can see immediately how far from perfect the distribution is. Half of the population, for example, earn just under a third of the total income. Move horizontally along the population line and you can see that 90 per cent of the population take only 70 per cent of the total income. This means that the top ten per cent of the population earn nearly 30 per cent of the country's total income.

Переведите на английский язык:

1.    Богатство может включать в себя ценные вещи, деньги, золото, акции, произведения искусства, землю, собственность, драгоценные камни.

2.    Кроме зарплаты или пособия по безработице, есть и другие источники дохода. Например, проценты по сбережениям в банке или рента с имущества.

3.    Распределение богатства во многих странах остаётся практически без изменений в течение многих лет. Значительная часть богатства концентрируется в руках небольшой части населения. Неравенство трудно искоренить.

4.    Кривая Лоренца показывает соотношение между доходами и населением, т. е. иллюстрирует распределение доходов в условиях рыночной экономики. По ней можно судить о степени неравенства в распределении доходов.

5.    Бедность — одна из глобальных проблем. Хотя она ассоциируется, в первую очередь, с развивающимися странами, бедность до некоторой степени существует и в развитых странах.

6.    Когда мы говорим об абсолютной бедности, мы имеем в виду людей, которые живут за чертой бедности.

7.    Люди, имеющие низкий доход, тратят все деньги на товары первой необходимости. Они не могут сберегать.

Wealth, income and inequality.