19.01.2026 18:34
The British international humanitarian organization Oxfam reported that the total wealth of billionaires worldwide increased by 16% last year compared to 2024, reaching $18.3 trillion.
According to Oxfam's new report, by 2024, the total wealth of billionaires reached $18.3 trillion, and this increase contradicts issues such as a quarter of the world's population not having access to sufficient food. The report suggests taxing the rich.
WEALTH OF BILLIONAIRES INCREASED
The findings of the report titled "Resisting the Rule of the Rich - Protecting Freedom From Billionaire Power," prepared by Oxfam, were announced at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) that started today in Davos, Switzerland.
REACHED $18.3 TRILLION
The report reveals that the number of billionaires in the world has increased and their wealth has been growing. Last year, the total wealth of approximately 3,000 billionaires worldwide, including Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg, increased by $2.5 trillion (16%) to reach $18.3 trillion, while the real increase in wealth since 2020 has been 81%.
THE 12 RICHEST PEOPLE HAVE MORE MONEY THAN 4 BILLION PEOPLE
Last year, the wealth of billionaires increased three times faster than the average of previous years. The 12 richest people in the world currently have more money than over 4 billion people. Despite the increase in wealth, a quarter of the world's population regularly does not have access to sufficient food, and nearly half of the global population lives in poverty. The $2.5 trillion increase in billionaires' global wealth last year is enough to eliminate extreme poverty 26 times.
ELON MUSK EARNS AVERAGE PERSON'S ANNUAL INCOME IN FOUR SECONDS
According to the report, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who is the first person to have a net worth exceeding $500 billion, earns the average annual income of a person in four seconds. While there are concerns about the economic power of billionaires clearly turning into political power, 100 billionaire families in the U.S. made a record investment of $2.6 billion in the last presidential election campaign.
It is estimated that a billionaire is 4,000 times more likely to hold a political office than an ordinary citizen. There is a trend that facilitates the super-rich in maintaining their wealth and power. Taxing the super-rich is necessary to reduce global inequality.
CALL FOR "WEALTH TAX ON THE RICH"
In the report where Oxfam combined Forbes' estimates of billionaires' wealth with data from the World Bank and UBS Global Wealth Report, it was predicted that a wealth tax applied to the rich would alleviate income inequality. Oxfam emphasized that the report serves as an important warning regarding the extent of economic injustice faced by global leaders gathered in Davos.