Oxfam says billionaire wealth soars in 2024, with 4 ‘created’ every week | News on inequality

The group’s report comes as some of the world’s political and financial elites prepare for an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

The wealth of the world’s billionaires grew three times faster in 2024 than the previous year, says global advocacy organization Oxfam International, as some of the world’s political and financial elite prepare to witness at an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

In its latest assessment of global inequality, opening the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, Oxfam said on Monday that the combined wealth of billionaires had increased by $2 trillion to $15 trillion. dollars last year.

The report, titled Takers Not Makers, said there were 2,769 billionaires in the world in 2024, an increase of 204 from the previous year. He noted that at least four new billionaires were “created” every week during the year, and that three-fifths of billionaires’ wealth came from inheritance, monopoly power or “crony relationships.” .

Oxfam predicts that at least five trillionaires will arise in the next decade. A year ago, the group predicted that only one billionaire would emerge during this period.

“The control of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once considered unimaginable. The failure to stop billionaires is soon to breed billionaires. Not only has the rate of billionaires’ wealth accumulation accelerated – threefold – but so has their power,” Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International, said in a statement.

The group warned that US President-elect Donald Trump’s policies “will further fan the flames of inequality.”

On average, a billionaire’s wealth increased by $2 million a day, Oxfam said. The 10 richest billionaires grew richer by an average of $100 million per day. Even if they lost 99% of their wealth overnight, they would still remain billionaires, the report claims.

In contrast, the report says the number of people living below the World Bank’s poverty line has “barely budged” since the 1990s and the number of people suffering from hunger is increasing.

The report is based on data from sources including billionaire wealth estimates by US business magazine Forbes and World Bank data.

The WEF meeting in the Alpine village of Davos, which begins Monday, is expected to welcome some 3,000 participants, including business executives, academics, government officials and leaders of civic groups.

Trump, who has visited Davos twice during his first term and is also scheduled to be sworn in on Monday, is expected to participate in the forum event by video on Thursday. He has long championed the accumulation of wealth – including his own – and counts multi-billionaire Elon Musk among his top advisers.

“What you see right now is a billionaire president being sworn in today, backed by the richest man. So it’s pretty much the crown jewel of global oligarchies,” Oxfam’s Behar said, referring to Trump and Musk.

“It’s not about a specific individual. This is the economic system we have created in which billionaires are now able to shape economic and social policies, which ultimately brings them more and more profits,” he added.

The group called on governments to tax the richest to reduce inequality and extreme wealth, and to “dismantle the new aristocracy”. He also called for measures such as breaking up monopolies, capping CEO salaries and regulating companies to ensure they pay “living wages” to workers.