The combined wealth of all the world's billionaires will increase by $2 trillion in 2024, which is three times faster than in 2023, according to a report by the international charity and humanitarian organization Oxfam.
"The capture of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once thought unimaginable. The inability to stop billionaires is now giving birth to future trillionaires.
Not only has the rate of accumulation of wealth by a billionaire accelerated, but also their power has increased," said Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam. According to the organization's statistics, the number of billionaires increased from 2,565 to 2,769 in 2024. Within twelve months, their total wealth increased from 13 trillion to 15 trillion dollars. At the same time, the number of people living in poverty has practically not changed since 1990, the organization explains.
This trend threatens the global community by concentrating power in the hands of billionaires, allowing them to influence industry and public opinion, and to create monopolies.
The organization believes that in order to reduce the growing inequality in the world, it is necessary to reform the tax policy everywhere. Particular attention is paid to the fact that half of billionaires live in countries where there is no inheritance tax for direct heirs. This factor contributes to the formation of an aristocracy, which in turn increases the capital disparity between the global South and North, the report said.
