Billionaire Wealth Surges By $2 Trillion In 2024, Three Times Faster Than The Year Before, While The Number Of People Living In Poverty Has Barely Reduced Since 1990

• Oxfam predicts there will be at least five trillionaires a decade from now.
• 204 new billionaires were minted in 2024, nearly four every week.
• Sixty percent of billionaire wealth is now derived from inheritance, monopoly power or crony connections, as Oxfam argues that “extreme billionaire wealth is largely unmerited.” 
• Richest 1 percent in the Global North extracted $30 million an hour from the Global South through the financial system in 2023.
• Oxfam urges governments to tax the richest to reduce inequality, end extreme wealth, and dismantle the new aristocracy. Former colonial powers must address past harms with reparations.

Billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion in 2024 alone, equivalent to roughly $5.7 billion a day, at a rate three times faster than the year before. An average of nearly four new billionaires were minted every week.

This enormous surge was preceded by a year of massive resource extraction by the Global North from the Global South — the richest 1 percent in the Global North extracted $30 million an hour from the Global South through the financial system in 2023.

Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty has barely reduced since 1990, according to World Bank data, and levels of inequality between and within countries remain a growing concern. 

In South Africa, the combined wealth of six billionaires increased by US $4.1 billion in 2024, or US $11 million per day. Together they now own US $29.4 billion. In Nigeria, the wealth of four billionaires (US $23.7 billion) could easily cover the whole of Lagos city in 500 naira notes.

Last year, Oxfam predicted the emergence of the first trillionaire within a decade. However, with billionaire wealth accelerating at a faster pace this projection has expanded dramatically —at current rates the world is now on track to see at least five trillionaires within that timeframe.

Oxfam publishes “Takers Not Makers” today as business elites gather in the Swiss resort town of Davos and billionaire Donald Trump, backed by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, is inaugurated as President of the United States.

The report also shines a light on how, contrary to popular perception, billionaire wealth is largely unearned —60 percent of billionaire wealth now comes from inheritance, monopoly power or crony connections. Unmerited wealth and colonialism —understood as not only a history of brutal wealth extraction but also a powerful force behind today’s extreme levels of inequality— stand as two major drivers of billionaire wealth accumulation.  

Many of the super-rich, particularly in Europe, owe part of their wealth to historical colonialism and the exploitation of poorer countries. For example, the fortune of billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who has put his sprawling media ‘empire’ at the service of France's nationalist right, was built partly from colonial activities in Africa. 

“The chasm of wealth inequality between rich countries and Majority World countries is not an accident — it’s the legacy of colonialism. Former colonial powers didn’t just exploit resources on an unimaginable scale; they also designed and built a global financial architecture to perpetuate that theft,” said Fati N’zi-Hassane, Oxfam International’s Africa Director.

In what Oxfam’s report describes as modern-day colonialism, Global North countries control 69 percent of global wealth, 77 percent of billionaire wealth and are home to 68 percent of billionaires, despite making up just 21 percent of the global population. The average Belgian has about 180 times more voting power in the largest arm of the World Bank than the average Ethiopian.

Low- and middle-income countries spend on average nearly half of their national budgets on debt repayments, often to rich creditors in New York and London. This far outstrips their combined investment in education and healthcare. Between 1970 and 2023, Global South governments paid $3.3 trillion in interest to Northern creditors.

Globally, women are more often found in the most vulnerable forms of informal employment, including domestic work, than their male counterparts. Migrant workers in rich countries earn, on average, about 13 percent less than nationals, with the wage gap rising to 21 percent for women migrants. 

“For humanity to have hope of ever ending poverty, world leaders and governments must first commit to dismantling the vestiges of colonial-era systems that shackle billions of people, starting with the deeply unfair international financial system,” said N’zi-Hassane.   

“The international financial system must transform to adequately address the problems of public debt and illicit financial flows so that governments in Majority World countries too can collect and use their taxes to provide lifesaving and inequality-busting public services such as healthcare and education.”   

Oxfam is calling on governments to act rapidly to reduce inequality and end extreme wealth:

• Radically reduce inequality. Governments need to commit to ensuring that, both globally and at a national level, the incomes of the top 10 percent are no higher than the bottom 40 percent. According to World Bank data, reducing inequality could end poverty three times faster.  Governments must also tackle and end the racism, sexism and division that underpin ongoing economic exploitation. 
   
• Tax the richest to end extreme wealth. Global tax policy should fall under a new UN tax convention, ensuring the richest people and corporations pay their fair share. Tax havens must be abolished. Oxfam’s analysis shows that half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants. Inheritance needs to be taxed to dismantle the new aristocracy. 
   
• End the flow of wealth from South to North. Cancel debts and end the dominance of rich countries and corporations over financial markets and trade rules. This means breaking up monopolies, democratizing patent rules, and regulating corporations to ensure they pay living wages and cap CEO pay. Restructure voting powers in the World Bank, IMF and UN Security Council to guarantee fair representation of Global South countries. Former colonial powers must also confront the lasting harm caused by their colonial rule, offer formal apologies, and provide reparations to affected communities.