- 7 min read
- Published: 20th January 2025
Billionaire wealth surges by $2 trillion in 2024, three times faster than the year before Irish billionaire wealth increased by €13 billion
Ireland
- Irish billionaire wealth could carpet the whole of Phoenix Park in €50 notes almost 1.5x over.
- In 2024, billionaire wealth increased by €13 billion OR €35.6 million per day. There were two new billionaires in 2024.
- It takes just 5 days for someone in the top 1% to make what the average person in the bottom 50% makes all year.
Globally
- As billionaire wealth balloons, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990.
- Oxfam predicts there will be at least five trillionaires a decade from now.
- There were 204 newly minted billionaires in 2024, nearly four every week.
- Richest 1% in the Global North extracted €29m an hour from the Global South through the financial system in 2023.
Today, Oxfam publishes “Takers Not Makers” as business elites gather in the Swiss resort town of Davos and billionaire Donald Trump, backed by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, is inaugurated as President of the United States.
“The capture of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once considered unimaginable. The failure to stop billionaires is now spawning soon-to-be trillionaires. Not only has the rate of billionaire wealth accumulation accelerated —by three times— but so too has their power.
“President Trump will be a president of and for billionaires, using his power over the world’s largest economy to slash taxes for the ultra-rich and mega-corporations, at the expense of everyone else.
“Trump’s team is set to be the richest ever to run the US government, worth more than an unimaginable $450 billion. There are at least 13 billionaires appointed to jobs in his administration. And even if you exclude Elon Musk, Trump's cabinet would be the richest in history.
“Billionaires increasingly control not just economies but narratives and that is why in this report we challenge the popular perception that their vast wealth is deserved or based on merit. Oxfam’s calculates that 36 percent of billionaire wealth is now inherited. This report shows how extreme wealth is not simply a function of talent or ingenuity alone but built on the back of the work of countless others and taxpayer investment.
“We are witnessing the rise of a modern oligarchy, where wealth is used to build and consolidate political power and vice versa. Meanwhile, global poverty remains at 1990 levels. We must first acknowledge the disparity and set about reversing the trend.”— Jim Clarken, Oxfam Ireland CEO
Oxfam’s report details how our deeply unequal world is built on a legacy of historical colonialism and also how colonialism now has a modern-day form. Today, almost sixty years after the end of the historical colonial period, our global economy is still structured in ways that lead to wealth flowing from the Global South to the Global North, and more specifically from ordinary people in the Global South to the richest people in the Global North.
- The richest 1 percent in Global North countries like the US, UK and France extracted $30 million an hour from the Global South through the financial system in 2023.
- Global North countries control 69 percent of global wealth, 77 percent of billionaire wealth and are home to 68 percent of billionaires, despite making up just 21 percent of the global population.
- The average Belgian has about 180 times more voting power in the largest arm of the World Bank than the average Ethiopian.
Low and middle-income countries spend on average nearly half of their national budgets on debt repayments. This far outstrips their combined investment in education and healthcare. Between 1970 and 2023, Global South governments paid $3.3 trillion in interest to Northern creditors. Workers in the Global South contribute 90 percent of the labour that powers the world economy but receive only 21 percent of global income.
“This report shows us the reality of modern-day colonialism in action with countries in the global north extracting billions from the global south and holding on to a vastly disproportionate political power.
“Ireland, as one of the riches countries per capita in the world situated firmly in the power structures of the global north need to understand our own role in this modern-day colonialism. For us to truly honour our past and live up to our promise Ireland must act in solidarity and stand with the countries of the global south as they seek redress, reparations and their rightful place in international economic and political power structures.
“Our history gives us an appreciation for the position of the dispossessed, of the excluded and disempowered. Acknowledging how we currently benefit from global inequality should lead us to take an even stronger stance on behalf of those labouring under economic and political disparity and climate breakdown. We owe it to the global south to stand squarely with them.”— Jim Clarken, Oxfam Ireland CEO
Oxfam Ireland is urging the next Government to:
- Tax extreme wealth to pay for public services, honour our international commitments and to broaden our own tax base. We propose a flat rate of 1.5% on all net wealth, that is real wealth, above.
- Lead efforts for a more multilateral world by advocating for debt cancellation, democratisation of international institutions like the UN, the World Bank and the IMF and regulate corporations to ensure living wages and fair-trade practices.
- Commit to climate justice by ramping up our domestic climate action and providing greater financial support for countries in the global south experiencing climate breakdown and related hunger and conflict.
“It’s time for governments to stop protecting billionaires and to prioritise investing in people. A fairer, more equal world is essential for a liveable planet, global democracy and the eradication of poverty. Urgent change is needed.”— Jim Clarken, Oxfam Ireland CEO
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Clare Cronin, Head of Communications and Campaigns – Oxfam Ireland
clare.cronin@oxfam.org
+353 (0) 87 195 2551
Kate Brayden, Media Officer – Oxfam Ireland
kate.brayden@oxfam.org
+353 (0) 87 749 7447
According to the World Bank, the actual number of people living on less than $6.85 a day has barely changed since 1990.
Forbes data indicates that the largest annual increase in billionaire wealth ($5.8 trillion) occurred in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was driven largely by governments injecting trillions of dollars into the economy.
Oxfam calculates that 60 percent of billionaire wealth is either from crony or monopolistic sources or inherited. Specifically, 36 percent is inherited, 18 percent comes from monopoly power, and 6 percent is from crony connections.
Research by Forbes found that, for the first time since 2009, every billionaire under 30 inherited their wealth —“a sign that the ‘great wealth transfer’ has begun.”
According to UBS, more than 1,000 billionaires are expected to pass $5.2 trillion to their heirs over the next 20 to 30 years.
Vincent Bolloré bought several former colonial companies in Africa, taking advantage of the wave of privatizations spurred by the structural adjustment programs imposed by the IMF and the World Bank in the 1990s. This strategy enabled Bolloré to build an extensive transport-logistics network in Africa, operating in 42 ports across the continent. .
Amin Mohseni-Cheraghlou’s research shows that the average Belgian has about 180 times more voting power in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the largest arm of the World Bank, when compared to the average Ethiopian.
On average, low- and middle-income countries are spending 48 percent of their national budgets on debt repayments.
In 2023, the average life expectancy in Africa is 63.8 years, compared to 79.1 years in Europe.
Jason Hickel, Morena Hanbury Lemos and Felix Barbour found that “Southern wages are 87 percent to 95 percent lower than Northern wages for work of equal skill. While Southern workers contribute 90 percent of the labor that powers the world economy, they receive only 21 percent of global income.”
According to the ILO, women in the informal economy are more often found in the most vulnerable situations, for instance as domestic workers, home-based workers or contributing family workers, than their male counterparts.
ILO data also shows that migrant workers in high-income countries earn about 12.6 percent less than nationals, on average. The pay gap between men nationals and migrant women in high-income countries is estimated at 20.9 percent, which is much wider than the aggregate gender pay gap in high-income countries (16.2 percent).