Wealth of World’s Top 5 Billionaires Doubles to $869B Since 2020

Global billionaires are becoming richer while the poorer are getting even poorer. Explore the key factors behind the alarming reports published by Oxfam International.

Since 2020, the world’s five wealthiest men have witnessed their wealth soar from $405 billion to $869 billion at an astonishing rate of $14 million per hour. Concurrently, nearly five billion people have experienced a decline in their economic status. If this trend continues, the world may witness the emergence of the first trillionaire in the next ten years; however, the elimination of poverty is not projected to occur for another 229 years.

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Key Findings of the Report:

• The wealth of the world’s five wealthiest individuals have more than doubled, surging from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020—a staggering rate of $14 million per hour.
• Oxfam’s report exposes that 7 out of 10 of the world’s largest corporations are collectively valued at $10.2 trillion, surpassing the combined GDPs of all countries in Africa and Latin America.
• Over the past three years, an accelerated surge in extreme wealth has solidified, with billionaires now $3.3 trillion richer than in 2020. Their wealth has grown three times faster than the rate of inflation, while global poverty remains entrenched at pre-pandemic levels.
• Despite comprising only 21% of the global population, affluent countries in the Global North possess 69% of global wealth and harbor 74% of the world’s billionaire wealth.
• Share ownership disproportionately favors the wealthiest. The top 1% owns 43% of all global financial assets, controlling 48% of financial wealth in the Middle East, 50% in Asia, and 47% in Europe.
• In the year to June 2023, 148 of the world’s largest corporations collectively amassed $1.8 trillion in total net profits, marking a 52 percent increase compared to average net profits from 2018-2021. Their windfall profits surged to nearly $700 billion.
• The report reveals that for every $100 of profit generated by 96 top corporations from July 2022 to June 2023, $82 was distributed to affluent shareholders.