The wealth of the world’s super-rich is growing ever faster, a study published on Monday by the development organization Oxfam has shown ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
According to the report, there were 2,769 billionaires worldwide in 2024, an increase of 204 compared to the previous year.
At the same time, the number of people living below the World Bank’s poverty line is stagnating and the number of people going hungry is rising.
Oxfam predicted that there would be at least five trillionaires worldwide a decade from now.
The Oxfam report is based on data from sources including estimates of the wealth of billionaires made by the US business magazine Forbes and data from the World Bank.
According to the report, billionaire wealth rose from $13 trillion to $15 trillion in 2024 alone worldwide, a growth rate three times faster than the previous year.
On average, the wealth of a single billionaire increased by $2 million a day. The richest 10 billionaires became richer by an average of $100 million per day. Even if they were to lose 99% of their wealth overnight, they would still remain billionaires, Oxfam said.
The report also highlighted how the source of 60% of billionaire wealth is “inheritance, monopoly power or crony connections.” Worldwide, 36% of billionaire wealth is derived from inheritance, according to Oxfam calculations.
This is even starker in the European Union, where 75% of wealth is unearned, with 69% of wealth coming from inheritance alone.
“Billionaire wealth is exploding, and the bottom line is most wealth is not earned, it is inherited,” said Oxfam EU tax expert Chiara Putaturo.
“Meanwhile, the number of people in poverty worldwide has barely budged since the nineties. EU leaders need to tax more the wealth of the super-rich, including inheritance. Without this, we risk seeing the gap between the ultra-rich and ordinary Europeans growing.”