Current:Home > FinanceThe world could get its first trillionaire within 10 years, anti-poverty group Oxfam says-InfoLens
The world could get its first trillionaire within 10 years, anti-poverty group Oxfam says
View Date:2024-12-23 16:28:24
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
Oxfam, which for years has been trying to highlight the growing disparities between the super-rich and the bulk of the global population during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, reckons the gap has been “supercharged” since the coronavirus pandemic.
The group said the fortunes of the five richest men — Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault and his family of luxury company LVMH, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and investment guru Warren Buffett — have spiked by 114% in real terms since 2020, when the world was reeling from the pandemic.
Oxfam’s interim executive director said the report showed that the world is entering a “decade of division.”
“We have the top five billionaires, they have doubled their wealth. On the other hand, almost 5 billion people have become poorer,” Amitabh Behar said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, where the forum’s annual meeting takes place this week.
“Very soon, Oxfam predicts that we will have a trillionaire within a decade,” Behar said, referring to a person who has a thousand billion dollars. “Whereas to fight poverty, we need more than 200 years.”
If someone does reach that trillion-dollar milestone — and it could be someone not even on any list of richest people right now — he or she would have the same value as oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil fame is widely considered to have become the world’s first billionaire in 1916.
Currently, Musk is the richest man on the planet, with a personal fortune of just under $250 billion, according to Oxfam, which used figures from Forbes.
By contrast, the organization said nearly 5 billion people have been made poorer since the pandemic, with many of the world’s developing nations unable to provide the financial support that richer nations could during lockdowns.
In addition, Oxfam said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which sent energy and food costs soaring, disproportionately hit the poorest nations.
With Brazil hosting this year’s Group of 20 summit of leading industrial and developing nations, Lawson said it was a “good time for Oxfam to raise awareness” about inequalities. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has put issues that concern the developing world at the heart of the G20 agenda.
Oxfam said measures that should be considered in an “inequality-busting” agenda include the permanent taxation of the wealthiest in every country, more effective taxation of big corporations and a renewed drive against tax avoidance.
To calculate the top five richest billionaires, Oxfam used figures from Forbes as of November 2023. Their total wealth then was $869 billion, up from $340 billion in March 2020, a nominal increase of 155%.
For the bottom 60% of the global population, Oxfam used figures from the UBS Global Wealth Report 2023 and from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2019. Both used the same methodology.
___
Pylas reported from London.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Man gets a life sentence in the shotgun death of a New Mexico police officer
- Chiefs players – and Taylor Swift – take their Super Bowl party to the Las Vegas Strip
- Teen accused of shooting tourist in Times Square charged with attempted murder
- North Carolina voter ID trial rescheduled again for spring in federal court
- Voters in Oakland oust Mayor Sheng Thao just 2 years into her term
- You can't escape taxes even in death. What to know about estate and inheritance taxes.
- Chiefs players – and Taylor Swift – take their Super Bowl party to the Las Vegas Strip
- Shooting at Greek shipping company kills four, including owner and suspected gunman
- Will Aaron Rodgers retire? Jets QB tells reporters he plans to play in 2025
- Times Square shooting: 15-year-old teen arrested after woman shot, police chase
Ranking
- Advance Auto Parts is closing hundreds of stores in an effort to turn its business around
- Difficult driving, closed schools, canceled flights: What to expect from Northeast snowstorm
- Wreck of ship that sank in 1940 found in Lake Superior
- Waymo driverless car set ablaze in San Francisco: 'Putting out some rage'
- What are the best financial advising companies? Help USA TODAY rank the top U.S. firms
- Ryan Reynolds Trolls Blake Lively for Going to 2024 Super Bowl With BFF Taylor Swift
- Hiker missing for a week is found dead on towering, snow-covered Southern California mountain
- Republican Michigan lawmaker loses staff and committee assignment after online racist post
Recommendation
-
Suspect in deadly 2023 Atlanta shooting is deemed not competent to stand trial
-
Recession risks are fading, business economists say, but political tensions pose threat to economy
-
Suspect captured in Memphis crime rampage that left at least 1 dead, several wounded
-
Worried about your kids getting scammed by online crooks? Tech tips to protect kids online
-
Advance Auto Parts is closing hundreds of stores in an effort to turn its business around
-
Where is the next Super Bowl? New Orleans set to host Super Bowl 59 in 2025
-
Swizz Beatz, H.E.R., fans react to Usher's Super Bowl halftime show performance: 'I cried'
-
Rizz? Soft-launch? Ahead of Valentine's Day, we're breaking down modern dating slang