Billionaire wealth across the globe surged by $2 trillion in 2024 to $15 trillion at a rate three times faster than the previous year, a study showed on Monday (January 20, 2024) as the richest of the world began to assemble for their annual jamboree in this ski resort town.
In its flagship inequity report released every year on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Oxfam International contrasted the huge jump in the billionaire wealth with the number of people living in poverty barely having changed since 1990.
Wealth of billionaires in Asia increased by $299 billion in 2024, Oxfam said while predicting that there will be at least five trillionaires within a decade from now.
The year 2024 saw 204 new billionaires getting minted — an average of nearly four every week. Asia itself got 41 new billionaires in the year.
In its report titled ‘Takers, not Makers’, Oxfam said the richest 1% in the Global North extracted $30 million an hour from the Global South through the financial systems in 2023.
It further said that 60% of billionaire wealth is now derived from inheritance, monopoly power or crony connections, showing that “extreme billionaire wealth is largely unmerited.” The rights group urged governments across the world to tax the richest to reduce inequality, end extreme wealth, and dismantle the new aristocracy.
It also sought that the former colonial powers must address past harms with reparations.
The billionaire’s wealth grew in 2024 at an average of $5.7 billion a day, while the number of billionaires rose to 2,769, from 2,565 in 2023.
Wealth of the world’s ten richest men
The wealth of the world’s ten richest men grew on average by almost $100 million a day — even if they lost 99% of their wealth overnight, they would remain billionaires, Oxfam said.
Oxfam, whose annual inequity report is debated extensively at WEF Annual Meeting, said that contrary to the popular perception, billionaire wealth is largely unearned — 60% of billionaire wealth now comes from inheritance, monopoly power or crony connections.
Unmerited wealth and colonialism — understood as not only a history of brutal wealth extraction but also a powerful force behind today’s extreme levels of inequality — stand as two major drivers of billionaire wealth accumulation, it said.
“The capture of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once considered unimaginable. The failure to stop billionaires is now spawning soon-to-be trillionaires. Not only has the rate of billionaire wealth accumulation accelerated —by three times— but so too has their power,” Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar said.
“The crown jewel of this oligarchy is a billionaire president, backed and bought by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, running the world’s largest economy. We present this report as a stark wake up-call that ordinary people the world over are being crushed by the enormous wealth of a tiny few,” he said.
Inherited wealth of billionaires
Oxfam calculated that 36% of billionaire wealth is now inherited.
It said that the research by Forbes found that every billionaire under 30 has inherited their wealth, while UBS estimated that over 1,000 of today’s billionaires will pass on more than $5.2 trillion to their heirs over the next two to three decades.
“Many of the super-rich, particularly in Europe, owe part of their wealth to historical colonialism and the exploitation of poorer countries,” Oxfam said.
Billionaires and the right
It cited the example of the fortune of billionaire Vincent Bollore, who has put his sprawling media empire at the service of France’s nationalist right, which was built partly from colonial activities in Africa.
Calling it modern day colonialism, Oxfam said vast sums of money still flow from the Global South to countries in the Global North and their richest citizens.
The richest 1% in Global North countries like the US, UK and France extracted $30 million an hour from the Global South through the financial system in 2023, Oxfam said.
Global North countries control 69% of global wealth, 77% of billionaire wealth and are home to 68% of billionaires, despite making up just 21% of the global population, the study said.
Behar said the money desperately needed in every country to invest in teachers, buy medicines and create good jobs is being siphoned off to the bank accounts of the super-rich.
“This is not just bad for the economy, it is bad for humanity,” he said.
Oxfam cited the World Bank data that the actual number of people living on less than $6.85 a day has barely changed since 1990.
Citing Forbes data, it said the largest annual increase in billionaire wealth occurred in 2021 at $5.8 trillion, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and termed the $2 trillion surge in 2024 as the second highest.
It said that 60% of billionaire wealth is either from crony or monopolistic sources or inherited — 36% inherited, 18% from monopoly power, and 6% from crony connections.
Women in informal economy and migrant workers
Oxfam further cited ILO to say that women in the informal economy are more often found in the most vulnerable situations, for instance as domestic workers, home-based workers or contributing family workers, than their male counterparts.
ILO data also shows that migrant workers in high-income countries earn about 12.6% less than nationals, on average, Oxfam said.
The pay gap between men nationals and migrant women in high-income countries is estimated at 20.9%, which is much wider than the aggregate gender pay gap in high-income countries (16.2%), it added.
Published – January 20, 2025 10:15 am IST
