Billionaires' wealth increases significantly - Oxfam predicts five trillionaires in a decade!
The eurozone's GDP is roughly $15 trillion (€14.5 trillion), equivalent to what billionaires around the globe will own in 2024. The number of people with the prestigious title rose to 2,769 last year, a crowd that could almost fill the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
According to anti-poverty group Oxfam International, the wealth of billionaires grew by $2 trillion (€1.93 billion) in 2024, equivalent to about $5.7 billion (€5.5 billion) a day, three times faster than a year earlier, while the number of people living in poverty, living on less than $6.85 (€6.64) a day, has barely changed since 1990.
The global inequality report also predicts that at least five trillion people will be created over the next decade. A year ago, the group predicted that only one trillionaire would emerge during that time.
Oxfam's "Takers Not Makers" research was published as some of the world's political and financial elite prepare for an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum. Meanwhile, billionaire Donald Trump, backed by the world's richest man, Elon Musk, is poised to become the 47th president of the United States.
"The capture of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once considered unimaginable," said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar, adding that "the failure to stop billionaires is now giving birth to soon-to-be trillionaires. Not only has the rate of billionaire wealth accumulation accelerated - by three times - but so has their power."
Referring to future US President Donald Trump and billionaire businessman Elon Musk, Behar said: "It's not about a specific individual. It's the economic system that we've created where billionaires are now almost able to shape economic policy, social policy, which ultimately gives them more and more profit," according to the AP.
Like Biden's call to make billionaires "start paying their fair share" through the US tax code, Oxfam called on governments to tax the richest to reduce inequality and extreme wealth and "dismantle the new aristocracy."
The group called for steps such as breaking up monopolies, capping CEO pay, and regulating corporations to ensure they pay "living wages" to workers.
On average, Oxfam said, low- and middle-income countries are spending nearly half of their national budgets on debt repayments. That far exceeds their combined investments in education and health care. It also noted that life expectancy in Africa is just under 64 years, compared with over 79 years in Europe.
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