The world has never had so many billionaires as it does now. For the first time in history, the planet surpassed the mark of 3 thousand billionaires, who together account for US$18.3 trillion. The fortune of the richest group in the world still grew at an exponential rate. It rose 16.2% from the election of United States President Donald Trump in November 2024 to the end of 2025. The pace is three times higher than the annual average over the last five years.
The jump of US$2.5 trillion in just one year would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty on the planet 26 times over. Meanwhile, one in four people in the world faces some degree of food insecurity, including hunger.
This is what information from the report “Resisting the Dominion of the Rich: Protecting Freedom from the Power of Billionaires” points out, released by Oxfam, a global organization fighting inequality, on the eve of the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The annual meeting brings together part of the global economic and political elite in Davos, Switzerland.
Take advantage of the stock market rise!
Pro-billionaire agenda boosts fortunes
According to Oxfam, the accelerated growth in billionaires’ wealth is directly associated with political decisions taken by the administration of Donald Trump, president of the United States, since the Republican returned to occupy the White House.
The administration has adopted an agenda favorable to the super-rich, with reduced taxes on large fortunes and efforts to tax large companies, in addition to retreating from the fight against monopolies and encouraging deregulation. In practice, explains the report, these measures created an environment in which the richest began to retain more income, pay proportionally less taxes and operate with fewer rules.
While U.S. billionaires posted the biggest gains last year, the effect was global, the research found. Billionaires from other regions also saw double-digit increases in their fortunes, benefiting from a more permissive international scenario for capital and the appreciation of sectors such as technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
Continues after advertising
To give you an idea of the concentration of wealth, the ten richest billionaires in the world collectively hold around US$2.4 trillion. The richest twelve have more wealth than more than four billion people, that is, the poorest half of the global population.
The amount accumulated by billionaires last year alone – US$2.6 trillion – would be enough to distribute around US$250 to every person on the planet and, even so, the group would end the year US$500 billion richer. Among the names at the top of the list, billionaire Elon Musk – owner of companies such as Tesla and SpaceX – became the first person in the world to exceed US$500 billion in wealth.
Brazil leads concentration of wealth in Latin America
In Brazil, the country with the largest number of billionaires in the Latin American and Caribbean region, the concentration of wealth has also reached extreme levels. There are 66 billionaires who, together, accumulate around US$253 billion, the largest total fortune in the region.
According to Oxfam, the historically regressive tax system weighs heavily on the Brazilian scenario. While the majority of taxes fall on income from work – which affects poorer families, whose income depends on employment – more, the richest – heirs, investors, owners of large fortunes – end up paying proportionally less taxes.
“Although the recent income tax reform represents progress by expanding the exemption for lower incomes and establishing a higher minimum effective taxation on the richest, the country still needs to advance in the taxation of dividends, large fortunes and inheritances to structurally address inequality”, suggests the study.
Disproportionate influence of the rich on politics
Another point highlighted by the report is the way in which the concentration of wealth converts into political power and influence over public opinion. Oxfam estimates that billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary citizens. A global survey carried out in 66 countries, cited by the study, showed that almost half of those interviewed believe that the rich often buy elections in their countries.
Continues after advertising
At the international level, the document also draws attention to the presence of the super-rich in decision-making spaces. At UN COP28, for example, 34 billionaires participated as delegates, with a quarter of them building fortunes in highly polluting sectors, such as oil, gas, mining and chemicals. Four had access to the so-called “Blue Zone”, a restricted area where the main climate agreements are negotiated.
The concentration also extends to media and digital platforms. Billionaires control more than half of the world’s largest media companies and all major social networks. The report cites cases such as the purchase of the Washington Post by Jeff Bezos, Twitter/X by Elon Musk, the Los Angeles Times by Patrick Soon-Shiong and the acquisition of relevant stakes in The Economist by a consortium of billionaires.
In France, billionaire Vincent Bolloré controls the broadcaster CNews, while in the United Kingdom four super-rich families dominate three-quarters of newspaper circulation.
Continues after advertising
“The growing gap between the rich and the rest of society is creating a highly dangerous and unsustainable political deficit,” said Oxfam International executive director Amitabh Behar.
Proposals to contain inequality
Faced with the advancement of wealth concentration, Oxfam advocates that governments place the reduction of economic inequality at the center of their agendas. To this end, the organization proposes realistic national plans, with clear and followable goals regarding income redistribution, strengthening public services and measures to raise wages and protect labor rights.
The report also argues that this national plan includes effective taxation of the super-rich, combating monopolies and debt relief for countries in the Global South as ways to reduce historical disparities. According to Oxfam, specific reforms are not enough to face a structural problem that affects both the economy and democracy.
Continues after advertising
“Reforms are often too limited or fragmented to achieve this objective,” says the study.
The organization also proposes limiting the political influence of the super-rich by regulating lobbying, strengthening independent regulatory bodies and creating stricter rules to avoid conflicts of interest between governments and large companies. For the entity, containing the concentration of wealth is a key condition for protecting democratic freedoms and reducing global inequality.
