Oxfam report reveals: billionaires’ wealth explodes

Since 2020, they have been adjusted for inflation by more than 80 percent richer. At the same time almost live half of humanity in poverty Oxfam.

The report is based on data from various sources. For example, Oxfam combined Forbes estimates of the wealth of billionaires with data from the World Bank and those from the UBS World Wealth Report.

“Era of Billionaires”

Last year, the wealth of billionaires grew by around 16 percent – three times faster than the average in previous years, explains Oxfam. The twelve The richest people now have more money than the poorest half of the world’s population, that’s more than four billion people.

“We are in the era of billionaires – and that is not good news for the world,” comments Charlotte Becker, CEO of Oxfam Germany. The wealth at the top is concentrating at an unprecedented rate; last year alone, billionaires gained $2.5 trillion. “That’s as much as the poorer half of the world’s population owns,” says Becker.

Oxfam bill on Elon Musk

The richest man in the world, Elon Muskaccording to Oxfam’s calculations, earns as much in four seconds as an average person earns in a year. He would have to give away more than $4,500 per second for his wealth to shrink.

Concern about political power

Oxfam is concerned that the economic power of billionaires is clearly reflected in political power. This can be observed in the USA, for example, and it is further eroding democracy. “” writes about the US President: “Donald Trump is the one most lucrative Presidency in American history and has increased his wealth by billions, primarily through cryptocurrency trading.”

Billions in donations also for election campaigns of popular candidates

According to the Oxfam report, 100 billionaire families invested a record amount in the last US presidential election campaign 2.6 billion Dollar. It is estimated that a billionaire holds political office 4.000 Mal more likely than a normal citizen. Seven of the ten largest media companies are also at least partly owned by billionaires.