DAVOS, Switzerland: Billionaires\u2019 wealth grew three times faster in 2024 than the year before, a top anti-poverty group reported on Monday as some of the world\u2019s political and financial elite prepared for an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.
\nOxfam International, in its latest assessment of global inequality timed to the opening of the World Economic Forum meeting, also predicts at least five trillionaires will crop up over the next decade. A year ago, the group forecast that only one trillionaire would appear during that time.
\nOxFam\u2019s research adds weight to a warning by outgoing President Joe Biden last week of a \u201cdangerous concentration of power in the hands of very few ultra-wealthy people.\u201d The group\u2019s sharp-edged report, titled \u201cTakers Not Makers,\u201d also says the number of people in poverty has barely budged since 1990.
\nThe World Economic Forum expects to host some 3,000 attendees, including business executives, academics, government officials, and civic group leaders at its annual meeting in the Alpine village of Davos.
\nWhat\u2019s the worry about? … The \u2018new aristocracy\u2019
\nPresident-elect Donald Trump, who visited Davos twice during his first term and was set to take the oath of office on Monday, is expected to take part in the forum\u2019s event by video on Thursday. He has long championed wealth accumulation \u2014 including his own \u2014 and counts multibillionaire Elon Musk as a top adviser.
\n\u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing at the moment is a billionaire president taking oaths today, backed by the richest man. So this is pretty much the jewel in the crown of the global oligarchies,\u201d Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International, said in an interview, referring to Trump and Musk.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not about one specific individual. It\u2019s the economic system that we have created where the billionaires are now pretty much being able to shape economic policies, social policies, which eventually gives them more and more profit,\u201d he added.
\nLike Biden\u2019s call for making billionaires \u201cbegin to pay their fair share\u201d through the US tax code, Oxfam \u2014 a global advocacy group \u2014 called on governments to tax the richest to reduce inequality and extreme wealth, and to \u201cdismantle the new aristocracy.\u201d
\nThe group called for steps like the break-up of monopolies, capping CEO pay, and regulation of corporations to ensure they pay \u201cliving wages\u201d to workers.
\nHow are the poorest faring?
\nMany investors racked up strong gains in 2024, with strong performances for top tech companies and stock-market indexes like the S&P 500, as well as the price of gold and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
\nOxfam said billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion last year, or roughly $5.7 billion a day, three-times faster than in 2023. The number of billionaires rose by 204 to 2,769, and the 10 richest men saw their wealth rise nearly $100 million a day on average, it said.
\nCiting World Bank data, the group pointed to lingering poverty, saying the number of people living on less than $6.85 per day has \u201cbarely changed\u201d since 1990. Oxfam used Forbes\u2019 Real-Time Billionaire List\u201d as of end-November for data on the ultra-rich.
\nBy contrast, at least four new billionaires were \u201cminted\u201d every week in 2024, and three-fifths of billionaire wealth comes from inheritance, monopoly power or \u201ccrony connections,\u201d it said.
\nOn average, Oxfam said, low- and middle-income countries are spending nearly half their national budgets on debt repayments. It also noted that life expectancy in Africa is just under 64 years of age, compared to over 79 years in Europe.
\nWill it be business as usual at Davos again this year?
\nDespite the growing gap between the \u00fcber rich and the poor, the annual Davos confab, which formally begins on Tuesday, will likely focus this year again on making money and doing deals, with strongman leaders on the rise in some Western countries and progressive causes like diversity and climate change waning in the business world.
\nThe continued rise of artificial intelligence as a tool for business to reap greater efficiencies will also again be a central theme in Davos, despite worries in many sectors that AI could upend many white-collar jobs and displace workers in an array of industries.
\nTrump\u2019s return for a second term will likely be on many lips in Davos, as will lingering conflicts, including wars in Ukraine and Sudan, along with hopes for a continuation of a ceasefire that began on Sunday between Hamas and Israel, pausing their devastating 15-month war in Gaza.
\nForum organizers last week issued a survey conducted among 900 experts for \u201cGlobal Risks Report,\u201d which found that conflicts between countries was the top concern, followed by extreme weather, economic confrontation, misinformation and disinformation, and \u201csocietal polarization\u201d \u2014 a nod to the gap between rich and poor.
\nAs in past years, protesters calling for more economic equality, taxing the rich and pressing other demands took to the streets. Some blocked roads to Davos, snarling traffic in places and delaying trips for some attendees to the event, which runs through Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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