A World Where Rich Get Richer, Poor Get Poorer — and Billionaires Rise

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 21 2025 – Perhaps one of the UN’s most ambitious and longstanding projects – the launching of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)– is aimed, among other things, at helping developing nations eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. But that elusive goal has made little or no significant progress.

And now comes a new report from Oxfam, “Takers Not Makers” which finds that in 2024 alone, billionaires amassed $2 trillion in wealth, and nearly four new billionaires were minted every week.

“Not only has the rate of billionaire wealth-accumulation accelerated ―by three times― but so, too, has their power. The failure to stop billionaires is now spawning soon-to-be trillionaires. At this pace, we won’t see one trillionaire in a decade, but at least five”.

Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty (around 3.5 billion) has barely changed since 1990, says Oxfam.

And, according to the UN, if current patterns persist, an estimated 7% of the global population – around 575 million people – could still find themselves trapped in extreme poverty by 2030, with a significant concentration in sub-Saharan Africa.

Nabil Ahmed, Oxfam America’s director of economic and racial justice, told IPS the achievement of the global goals—and efforts to end poverty—are being crushed by extreme levels of economic inequality.

“Our world, in which the top 1% own more than the 95% combined, in which we’re on course for five trillionaires within a decade, is not on course to end poverty soon, nor to meet the scale of the climate crisis”.

The number of people living under the $6.85 poverty line today is in fact close to what it was in 1990, he said.

Meanwhile, the World Bank calculates that if current growth rates continue and inequality does not decrease, it will take more than a century to end poverty.

“There can no longer be any avoiding what was clear at the onset of the SDGs: governments, and all of us, have to address the power and unimaginable wealth of the ultra-rich and mega-corporations to have any chance of succeeding”.

“We need action that includes taxing the ultra-rich, investing in public goods and not privatizing them, breaking up monopolies and rewriting global rules from sovereign debt to patents. As the World Bank itself shows, if we reduce inequality, poverty could be ended three times faster,” declared Ahmed.

In 2024, the number of billionaires rose to 2,769, up from 2,565 in 2023. 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, according to Oxfam.

The wealth of the world’s ten richest men grew on average by almost $100 million a day —even if they lost 99 percent 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.

Ben Phillips, author of “How to Fight Inequality”, told IPS the promises made in the Sustainable Development Goals, including to end extreme poverty, can be met. But doing so depends on leaders making the decision to challenge extreme wealth. They need to tax and regulate the superrich, not only to raise essential revenue, but also to reshape the economy so that it works for everyone.

“The money is there, and the policies are known, to ensure that no one is held down in extreme poverty. Expert economic analysis that the G20 has commissioned shows that wealth taxes would unlock billions of dollars to tackle poverty”.

It also shows that taxing the wealth of the super-rich, and reining in the power of the oligarchs, would make the economy fairer and more secure. Furthermore, public opinion research shows that taking on the power of the super-rich, including by taxing them, would be hugely popular with voters from across the political spectrum.

“There is no mystery about what needs to be done about the twin evils of extreme poverty and extreme wealth. The difficulty is to get leaders to do it,” he pointed out.

The challenge is this: the extreme concentration of wealth has brought about an extreme concentration of power, and so to get political leaders to break with the super-rich requires public pressure that overwhelms the pressure of the oligarchs.

“There is hope, but that hope needs to be active. A fair economy that overcomes extreme poverty and extreme wealth won’t be given to people, but it can be won by people power”, said Phillips.

Daniel D. Bradlow, Professor/Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship at the University of Pretoria, told IPS according to the One Campaign, Africa’s total external debt in 2023 was $685.5 billion, equal to about 25% of the continent’s total GNP and its total debt service in 2024 was about $102 billion.

African countries are spending more on debt service than on health and education. This means that the world’s approximately 2500 billionaires, could spend less than half their $2 trillion increase in wealth in 2024 to pay off the total African external debt.

“Given this situation, it is highly unlikely that Africa can meet the SDGs without some correction in the gross maldistribution of wealth— and the power and influence that goes with it,” predicted Prof Bradlow.

Meanwhile, Oxfam has released its new study during a week (January 20-24) when business elites are gathering in the Swiss resort town of Davos, and billionaire Donald Trump was inaugurated Monday as President of the United States, backed by the world’s richest man Elon Musk.

The Oxfam report shows how 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.

Some of the findings include:

*60 percent of billionaire wealth now comes from inheritance, monopoly power or crony connections.

*The wealth of the world’s ten richest men grew on average by almost $100 million a day in 2024 —even if they lost 99 percent of their wealth overnight, they would remain billionaires.

*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.

Oxfam is calling on governments to act rapidly to reduce inequality and end extreme wealth.

Radically reduce inequality
Governments need to commit to ensuring that, both globally and at a national level, the incomes of the top 10 percent are no higher than the bottom 40 percent. According to World Bank data, reducing inequality could end poverty three times faster. Governments must also tackle and end the racism, sexism and division that underpin ongoing economic exploitation.

Tax the richest to end extreme wealth
Global tax policy should fall under a new UN tax convention, ensuring the richest people and corporations pay their fair share. Tax havens must be abolished. Oxfam’s analysis shows that half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants. Inheritance needs to be taxed to dismantle the new aristocracy.

End the flow of wealth from South to North
Cancel debts and end the dominance of rich countries and corporations over financial markets and trade rules. This means breaking up monopolies, democratizing patent rules, and regulating corporations to ensure they pay living wages and cap CEO pay.

Restructure voting powers in the World Bank, IMF and UN Security Council to guarantee fair representation of Global South countries. Former colonial powers must also confront the lasting harm caused by their colonial rule, offer formal apologies, and provide reparations to affected communities.

The full report is available at: https://oxfam.box.com/s/v8qcsuqabqqmufeytnrfife0o1arjw18

IPS UN Bureau Report

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