Almost four new billionaires emerged every week in 2024, according to Oxfam, an international confederation of humanitarian organizations that works to combat poverty. The number of billionaires rose to 2,769 in 2024, up from 2,565 in 2023.
The data comes from the report “At Whose Expense: The Origin of Wealth and the Construction of Injustice in Colonialism”, published on behalf of the Davos 2025 Economic Forum, which takes place in the Swiss city this week.
Oxfam also points out that billionaires’ wealth grew by US$2 trillion in 2024. The value is equivalent to around US$5.7 billion per day, a rate three times faster than in 2023, the organization points out. “Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990, according to World Bank data,” the report states.
The billionaires’ combined wealth increased from $13 trillion to $15 trillion in 2024, the second biggest annual increase in their wealth since Oxfam records began.
Together, the ten richest men on the planet earned, on average, almost $100 million a day, according to the report.
Oxfam also points out that even if they lost 99% of their wealth, they would still remain billionaires.
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The report is published annually during the Davos Economic Forum. The objective is to draw the attention of governments and society so that measures can be quickly taken to reduce inequality and end extreme wealth in the world.
See other highlights from the report:
- Oxfam predicts there will be at least five trillionaires within a decade;
- 60% of the wealth of today’s billionaires comes from inheritance, monopoly or connections with powerful people;
- The richest 1% in countries in the Global North, such as the US, UK and France, extracted US$30 million per hour from low- and middle-income countries in 2023;
- Countries in the Global North control 69% of global wealth, 77% of billionaires’ wealth and are home to 68% of billionaires, despite representing only 21% of the global population;
- The average Belgian has about 180 times more voting power in the largest branch of the World Bank than the average Ethiopian;
- Low- and middle-income countries spend on average almost half of their national budgets on debt payments, often to wealthy creditors in New York and London;
- Research shows that wages in the Global South are 87% to 95% lower than wages in the Global North for work of equivalent skill;
- Despite contributing 90% of the workforce that drives the global economy, workers in low- and middle-income countries receive just 21% of global income.
