While inequalities have long been present in almost every society, the pandemic has significantly exposed and increased the gaps, especially between those who can afford remote work and those who cannot.

Nearly eight months since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, more than 950,000 people have died from the disease. An estimated 400 million people, and disproportionately women, have lost their jobs.

Next week Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) leaders will meet in Đà Nẵng.  They face a region divided like never before.  After decades of world-leading economic growth that lifted boats almost universally, Asia today is rapidly becoming a fractured region with sharp economic and social divisions between the rich and the poor.

You could sit them all around a dinner table, or inside a single elevator. Meet eight men. The eight men who – you may need to read this twice – have as much wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world.