'Who owns the world' is a book written by Kevin Cahill. In it he has examined land ownership in each of the world's 167 countries. An impressive feat.
He reveals that the largest landowner in the world is our own dear Queen. Cahill states that "she is the legal owner of about 6,600 million acres of land, one sixth of the earth’s non ocean surface. The [estimated] value of her land holding [is] £17,600,000,000,000. This makes her the richest individual on earth."
The one fact that really stood out for me though wasn't that 60% of the European Union is owned by the aristocracy but that they receive 60% of the EU annual agricultural subsidy. This is no small sum and at the time of the publication of the book it amounted to €48,000 million. Why am I not suprised?
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