Billionaires’ Wealth Grew by $2 Trillion in 2024

The wealth of billionaires grew by $2 trillion in 2024 alone, equivalent to roughly $5.7 billion a day, at a rate three times faster than the year before. An average of nearly four new billionaires were minted every week.

On the other hand, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990, according to World Bank data, Oxfam said in its new report entitled “Takers Not Makers,” on Monday. Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organisations, focusing on the alleviation of global poverty

According to the report, the number of billionaires rose to 2,769 in 2024, up from 2,565 in 2023 and their combined wealth surged from $13 trillion to $15 trillion in just 12 months.

This is the second largest annual increase in billionaire wealth since records began. The wealth of the world’s ten richest men grew on average by almost $100 million a day —even if they lost 99% of their wealth overnight, they would remain billionaires.

Last year, Oxfam predicted the emergence of the first trillionaire within a decade. However, with billionaire wealth accelerating at a faster pace this projection has expanded dramatically —at current rates the world is now on track to see at least five trillionaires within that timeframe.

This ever-growing concentration of wealth is enabled by a monopolistic concentration of power, with billionaires increasingly exerting influence over industries and public opinion.

Oxfam’s report was published as business elites gathered in the Swiss resort town of Davos and billionaire Donald Trump, backed by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, took office as President of the US for the second term.

Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar said that the capture of 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, he said.

The report also shines a light on how, contrary to popular perception, billionaire wealth is largely unearned —60% of billionaire wealth now comes from inheritance, monopoly power or crony connections.

Unmerited wealth and colonialism —understood as not only a history of brutal wealth extraction but also a powerful force behind today’s extreme levels of inequality— stand as two major drivers of billionaire wealth accumulation.

Inherited Wealth

Oxfam’s calculates that 36% of billionaire wealth is now inherited. Research by Forbes found that every billionaire under 30 has inherited their wealth, while UBS estimates that over 1,000 of today’s billionaires will pass on more than $5.2 trillion to their heirs over the next two to three decades.

Many of the super-rich, particularly in Europe, owe part of their wealth to historical colonialism and the exploitation of poorer countries. For example, the fortune of billionaire Vincent Bollore, who has put his sprawling media “empire” at the service of France’s nationalist right, was built partly from colonial activities in Africa.

This dynamic of wealth extraction persists today: vast sums of money still flow from the Global South to countries in the Global North and their richest citizens, in what Oxfam’s report describes as modern-day colonialism.  

The richest 1% in Global North countries like the US, the UK and France extracted $30 million an hour from the Global South through the financial system in 2023. Global North countries control 69% of global wealth, 77% of billionaire wealth and are home to 68% of billionaires, despite making up just 21% of the global population.

Low- and middle-income countries spend on average nearly half of their national budgets on debt repayments, often to rich creditors in New York and London. 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, the report said.