According to a survey, the world’s ten wealthiest men increased their wealth over the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic as poverty and inequality rose.
In a briefing released ahead of a virtual mini-summit of world leaders being hosted under the aegis of the World Economic Forum, Oxfam said the men’s income grew from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion, at an average pace of $1.3 billion per day.
The millionaires’ wealth increased more during the pandemic than it did during the previous 14 years, when the world economy was suffering the worst recession since the 1929 Wall Street Crash, according to Oxfam, a confederation of charities dedicated to relieving global poverty.
The net worth of the world’s top 10 billionaires has more than doubled during the pandemic to $1.5tn
- Mark Zuckerberg $117.7bn up 101%
- Elon Musk $294.2bn up 1,016%
- Jeff Bezos $202.6bn up 67%
- Bernard Arnault & family $187.7bn up 130%
- Bill Gates $137.4bn up 31%
- Larry Ellison $125.7bn up 99%
- Larry Page $122.8bn up 125%
- Sergey Brin $118.3bn up 125%
- Steve Ballmer $104.4bn up 85%
- Warren Buffett $101.5bn up 40%
It dubbed this disparity “economic violence,” claiming that it contributes to the deaths of 21,000 people per day owing to a lack of healthcare, gender-based violence, malnutrition, and climate change.
According to the charity, the epidemic has pushed 160 million people into poverty, with non-white ethnic minorities and women bearing the brunt of the damage as inequality has risen.
The research comes after a December 2021 analysis by the organisation, which revealed that the world’s wealthiest people’s share of global wealth increased at an unprecedented rate during the pandemic.
Oxfam called for tax reforms to help save lives by funding global vaccine manufacturing, as well as healthcare, climate adaption, and gender-based violence reduction.
The group claimed to have based its wealth projections on the most up-to-date and thorough data sources available, including the Forbes 2021 Billionaires List.
The 10 richest men in the world have seen their global wealth double to $1.5tn (£1.01tn) since the start of the global pandemic following a surge in share and property prices that has widened the gap between rich and poor, according to a report from Oxfam. https://t.co/NBa8jmQaeA
— Ashis Basu (@BasuAshis) January 17, 2022
Forbes listed the world’s 10 richest men as: Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, former Microsoft CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, US investor Warren Buffet and the head of the French luxury group LVMH, Bernard Arnault.
