DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) \u2014 The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the\u00a0Swiss ski resort of Davos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oxfam, which for years has been trying to highlight the growing disparities between the super-rich and the bulk of the global population during the\u00a0World Economic Forum\u2019s annual meeting, reckons the gap has been \u201csupercharged\u201d since the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group said the fortunes of the five richest men \u2014 Tesla CEO\u00a0Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault and his family of luxury company LVMH, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and investment guru\u00a0Warren Buffett\u00a0\u2014 have spiked by 114% in real terms since 2020, when the world was reeling from the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oxfam\u2019s interim executive director said the report showed that the world is entering a \u201cdecade of division.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have the top five billionaires, they have doubled their wealth. On the other hand, almost 5 billion people have become poorer,\u201d Amitabh Behar said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, where the forum\u2019s annual meeting takes place this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVery soon, Oxfam predicts that we will have a trillionaire within a decade,\u201d Behar said, referring to a person who has a thousand billion dollars. \u201cWhereas to fight poverty, we need more than 200 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If someone does reach that trillion-dollar milestone \u2014 and it could be someone not even on any list of richest people right now \u2014 he or she would have the same value as oil-rich Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil fame is widely considered to have become the world\u2019s first billionaire in 1916.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, Musk is the richest man on the planet, with a personal fortune of just under $250 billion, according to Oxfam, which used figures from Forbes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By contrast, the organization said nearly 5 billion people have been made poorer since the pandemic, with many of the world\u2019s developing nations unable to provide the\u00a0financial support that richer nations could\u00a0during lockdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, Oxfam said Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which sent energy and\u00a0food costs soaring, disproportionately hit the poorest nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Brazil hosting this year\u2019s Group of 20 summit of leading industrial and developing nations, it was a \u201cgood time for Oxfam to raise awareness\u201d about inequalities, said Max Lawson, Oxfam\u2019s head of inequality policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva\u00a0has put issues that concern the developing world at the heart of the G20 agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oxfam said measures that should be considered in an \u201cinequality-busting\u201d agenda include the permanent taxation of the wealthiest in every country, more effective\u00a0taxation of big corporations\u00a0and a renewed drive against tax avoidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To calculate the top five richest billionaires, Oxfam used figures from Forbes as of November 2023. Their total wealth then was $869 billion, up from $340 billion in March 2020, a nominal increase of 155%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the bottom 60% of the global population, Oxfam used figures from the UBS Global Wealth Report 2023 and from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2019. Both used the same methodology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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