Oxfam International released its 2025 report on January 20, coinciding with the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, where business elites gathered. The report highlights a stark contrast in global wealth, with billionaires' fortunes growing at an unprecedented rate, outpacing that of ordinary citizens by a wide margin. Oxfam’s findings reveal that in 2024, billionaires saw their wealth increase three times faster than in 2023, with an average of four new billionaires being created each week, mainly from Western Europe and North America. The wealth of these billionaires grew by an average of US$2 million per day, while the top 10 saw their fortunes grow by US$100 million daily.
In Africa, the wealth of billionaires in countries like South Africa and Nigeria also surged dramatically. For instance, six South African billionaires saw a combined wealth increase of US$4.1 billion in 2024, with US$11 million added to their fortunes daily. Oxfam notes that even if an average person in the Global South saved US$1,000 a day since the dawn of humanity, they would still not accumulate as much wealth as the top 10 billionaires.
The report also emphasized the growing concentration of wealth among billionaires, especially those in the Global North, highlighting how the richest 1% in these regions extracted US$30 million per hour from the Global South in 2023. While billionaire wealth surged, poverty levels have remained largely unchanged, with many countries in the Global South continuing to face systemic underdevelopment and inequality.
Oxfam also condemned the wealth accumulation process, arguing that much of it is "unearned." About 60% of billionaire wealth comes from inheritance, monopolistic power, or cronyism, rather than merit. The report claims that today's extreme wealth is largely a product of crony connections, where the richest individuals leverage their political influence to amass even more wealth.
Furthermore, Oxfam criticized the ongoing legacy of colonialism, with many European billionaires profiting from historical exploitation of poorer countries. For example, French billionaire Vincent Bolloré’s fortune is partly derived from colonial-era activities in Africa. Oxfam argued that colonialism continues to play a central role in exacerbating global wealth inequality, with the financial systems still designed to perpetuate the wealth extraction from the Global South.
The report underscores the troubling reality of global inequality, where the wealthiest individuals continue to grow richer, while millions remain in poverty. Oxfam called for greater efforts to address the root causes of inequality and to create a more equitable global financial system.
By Elite Daily News
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