People walk past a big screen during a speech by US President Donald Trump on January 26, 2018 at the Davos Congress Center (C), site of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), in the city of Davos, eastern Switzerland. / AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL MEDINA (Photo should read MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)
Miguel Medina | AFP | Getty Images
Billionaire wealth rose sharply in 2024, as the world’s richest people increasingly benefited from inheritance and powerful connections, according to Oxfam’s latest annual inequality report.
The combined wealth of the world’s richest has grown from $13 trillion to $15 trillion in just 12 months, a global charity said on Sunday. This is the second largest annual increase in the wealth of billionaires since Oxfam’s records have been kept.
Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990, the charity said, citing World Bank data. The richest 1% of people own almost 45% of the total wealth, while 44% of humanity lives below the World Bank’s poverty line of $6.85 a day, the data showed.
As the wealth of the world’s richest people accelerates at a faster pace than previously predicted, Oxfam now expects to see at least five trillionaires within a decade.
“The capture of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once thought unimaginable,” said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar.
“Failure to stop billionaires now breeds soon-to-be trillionaires. Not only has the rate of accumulation of billionaire wealth accelerated—by threefold—but so has their power,” he said.
The report highlights the increase in “unearned wealth”, showing that 60% of billionaires’ wealth now comes from inheritance, monopoly or the power of “friendships”.
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 the company Tesla and a close ally of Trump, is on the track to become the world’s first trillionaire by 2027, according to a report by Informa Connect Academy. It is currently worth around $440 billion Bloomberg Billionaires Index indicates.
US President Joe Biden is leaving this week warned the rise of “an oligarchy taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence”.
“People should be able to earn as much as they can, but pay — play by the same rules, pay their fair share in taxes,” Biden said in his farewell address.
Oxfam is calling on governments to commit to ensuring that the incomes of the top 10% do not exceed the bottom 40% worldwide. Global economic rules should be adjusted to allow monopolies to break up, and more corporate regulations and global tax policies should be adjusted to ensure the rich pay their fair share, according to the charity.
Money flowing into the bank accounts of the super-rich instead of much-needed investment in teachers and medicine “isn’t just bad for the economy — it’s bad for humanity,” Oxfam’s Behar said.
“Many of the so-called ‘self-made’ are actually heirs to enormous wealth, handed down through generations of unearned privilege. Untaxed billions of dollars in inheritance is an affront to honesty, perpetuating a new aristocracy where wealth and power remain locked in the hands of a few,” he said.
