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3,000 billionaires added $6.5 trillion in wealth over past decade: Report
According to the report, the richest 1 percent of the global population have gotten richer by at least $33.9 trillion, enough to end poverty 22 times.
The rich are getting richer by the day, with the wealth of the world’s 3,000 billionaires shooting up by $6.5 trillion in real terms over the past decade.
The data came to light through an Oxfam report. The surge in wealth of the 3,000 billionaires is equivalent to 14.6 percent of global output.
According to the report, the richest 1 percent of the global population have gotten richer by at least $33.9 trillion in real terms. The charity said such wealth was “enough to end annual global poverty 22 times over”.
According to figures released by Equality Trust, the UK alone has added 150 billionaires in the last 34 years, rising from 15 in 1990 to 165 in 2024. There have been strong calls to introduce a wealth tax on the superrich in various parts of the world, and the new data suggests it might be time for governments to act on the demand.
The average billionaire wealth rose by more than 1,000 percent since 1990. According to Oxfam, billionaires pay “effective tax rates close to 0.3 percent of their wealth. The figure is well below the effective tax rate of an average worker.
Private wealth grew eight times faster than the net wealth of governments in the period between 1995 and 2023. Oxfam has urged the UK government to address the ‘extreme inequality’.
“The government must fairly tax the trillions of pounds that are locked away in the bank accounts of the super-rich and prioritise the fight against inequality, gendered oppression and the climate crisis,” Rachel Noble, a senior policy adviser at Oxfam, told the Guardian.
How are some countries addressing wealth inequality?
Spain, Brazil, Germany and South Africa signed a motion at the G20 last year for a minimum 2 percent tax on the super-rich to reduce inequality and raise public funds. Forecasts on its potential impact vary, but a study by the leading French economist Gabriel Zucman found that it could net up to $250 billion in extra revenue.
The four countries have called on other governments to support the campaign, saying that a levy on the ultra-wealthy would complement negotiations on the taxation of the digital economy and ongoing efforts to bring in a global minimum corporate tax of 15 percent for multinational businesses.
Ministers from Spain, Brazil, Germany and South Africa have argued that there would need to be steps to counter the use of tax havens, and a levy would be designed to prevent evasion by billionaires who choose to live in, for example, Monaco or Jersey, but make their money in bigger economies such as the UK or France.
A survey by Oxfam found that 86 percent of people supported paying for public services by “closing loopholes” that allow wealthy individuals and large corporations to use tax havens.
