Billionaires’ wealth increases by $2 trillion

Billionaire wealth surged in 2024, with the world’s richest people increasingly benefiting from inheritances and powerful connections, according to Oxfam’s latest annual inequality report.

The combined wealth of the world’s richest rose from $13 trillion to $15 trillion in just 12 months, the global charity announced on Sunday. This is the second largest annual increase in billionaire wealth since Oxfam began tracking.

Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990, the association said, citing World Bank data. The richest 1% own nearly 45% of all wealth, while 44% of humanity lives below the World Bank’s poverty line of $6.85 per day, the data shows.

As the wealth of the world’s richest people accelerates at a faster rate than expected, Oxfam now expects to see at least five trillion people within a decade.

“The control of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once thought unimaginable,” said Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International.

“The failure to stop the billionaires is soon creating trillionaires. Not only has the rate of billionaires’ wealth accumulation accelerated (by three times), but their power has also accelerated,” he said. he declared.

The report highlights a rise in “undeserved wealth”, showing that 60% of billionaires’ wealth now comes from inheritance, monopoly or the power of “crony relationships”.

Oxfam’s “Takers Not Makers” report comes as billionaire Donald Trump returns to the White House and 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries prepare to attend the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and close ally of Trump, is on track to become the world’s first billionaire by 2027, according to a report from the Informa Connect Academy. He is currently worth around $440 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden warned this week of the rise of an “extremely wealthy, powerful and influential oligarchy taking shape in America”.

“People should be able to earn as much as they can, but pay – play by the same rules, pay their fair share of taxes,” Biden said in his farewell speech.

Oxfam is urging governments to commit to ensuring that the incomes of the richest 10% are no higher than those of the poorest 40% globally. Global economic rules should be adjusted to allow monopolies to break up, and more business regulations and global tax policies should be adapted to ensure the rich pay their fair share, the charity says.

Money flowing into the bank accounts of the super rich instead of much-needed investments in teachers and medicine is “not just bad for the economy, it’s bad for humanity,” Behar said from Oxfam.

“A large number of so-called self-made people are in reality heirs to vast fortunes, passed down from generation to generation of unearned privilege. Billions of dollars in untaxed inheritance are an affront to fairness, perpetuating a new aristocracy where wealth and power remain locked away. in the hands of a few,” he said.