The world’s wealthiest have seen their fortunes grow at an unprecedented pace, while hundreds of millions remain mired in poverty, according to a recent Oxfam report. In 2024, billionaire wealth surged by $2 trillion—a rate three times faster than the previous year—with an average of nearly four new billionaires minted every week. In the United States alone, billionaire wealth increased by $1.4 trillion, and 74 more individuals joined the billionaire class125.
Oxfam’s analysis reveals a stark reality: most billionaire wealth is not earned through innovation or hard work, but rather through inheritance, monopoly power, or crony connections. Sixty percent of billionaire wealth now comes from these sources, with 36% specifically from inheritance. For the first time, in 2023, more new billionaires were created through inheritance than through entrepreneurship. Every billionaire under 30 has inherited their fortune, and over the next two to three decades, more than $5.2 trillion is expected to be transferred to heirs—often with little to no taxation125.
This rapid accumulation of wealth is creating a new aristocratic oligarchy, with immense influence over global politics and economies. Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990, with 3.6 billion still living below the $6.85 per day poverty line. The report highlights that the world’s 2,153 billionaires now collectively hold more wealth than 4.6 billion people—60% of the global population35.
Oxfam points to the enduring legacy of colonialism as a key driver of this inequality. The report notes that the financial system continues to extract $30 million an hour from the Global South to the richest 1% in the Global North. Historical injustices, such as the extraction of $64.82 trillion from India by the UK during colonial rule—of which $33.8 trillion went to the richest 10%—continue to fuel present-day disparities25.
The organization calls for urgent action to reverse these trends, including taxing the ultra-rich, reforming global economic rules, and addressing colonial legacies through reparations. Oxfam warns that, without intervention, current trends could lead to the emergence of five trillionaires within a decade, further entrenching a two-tier world where a tiny elite holds unprecedented power and wealth while billions struggle to meet basic needs25.
Sources:
- https://www.oxfamamerica.org/press/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-changed-since-1990/
- https://oxfam.dk/documents/ulighedsrapporter/english_davos_full-_report_2025_at.pdf
- https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/worlds-billionaires-have-more-wealth-46-billion-people
- https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/10546/621668/1/bp-takers-not-makers-200125-summ-en.pdf
- https://oi-files-d8-prod.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2025-01/English%20-%20Davos%20Full%20Report%202025.pdf
