Wealth
Extremely Unequal Wealth Distribution: Number of Billionaires Rising Rapidly Worldwide
Oxfam study shows: Billionaires' wealth grows rapidly, while millions of people remain in poverty.
The number of billionaires continues to grow worldwide – while at the same time millions of people are affected by poverty. According to a recent study by the development organization Oxfam, the total wealth of the super-rich has increased from 13 to 15 trillion US dollars within a year. On average, the wealth of the ten richest individuals grew by 100 million US dollars per day.
At the same time, poverty continues to increase: According to Oxfam, 733 million people worldwide are suffering from hunger – an increase of 152 million since 2019. Almost 3.6 billion people live below the extended poverty line of $6.85 per day, a number that has hardly changed since 1990.
The increase in wealth was particularly strong in Germany. The total wealth of German billionaires rose by 26.8 billion US dollars in 2024, reaching a total of 625.4 billion US dollars. The number of billionaires increased by nine to now 130, making Germany the country with the fourth highest billionaire density worldwide, after the USA, China, and India. It is noteworthy that 71 percent of the wealth of German billionaires is due to inheritances, significantly more than the global average of 36 percent.
Oxfam criticizes that extreme inequality is significantly favored by an unjust tax policy. In many cases, the super-rich pay relatively less tax than middle-class families. "Economically powerful countries in the Global North continue to dictate the rules that benefit corporations and the super-rich," the report states.
Oxfam: The influence of the super-rich on political processes is also growing.
According to Forbes, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos currently ranks first among the richest people in the world, followed by Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) and Larry Ellison (Oracle). The richest German is Hamburg logistics entrepreneur Klaus-Michael Kühne.
While corporate taxes have been reduced in many countries, the number of states with a net wealth tax has fallen from twelve to four. Oxfam is urgently calling for reforms to reduce the growing social gap and combat tax evasion by the super-rich.
