LONDON (Realist English). The combined wealth of the world’s billionaires has climbed to a record $18.3 trillion, with the super-rich increasingly seeking political power “for their own gain,” according to a new report released on Monday by Oxfam.
The charity said the number of billionaires rose to more than 3,000 last year, while their collective fortunes jumped by 16%, or $2.5 trillion. Since 2020, billionaire wealth has surged by 81%, a period Oxfam described as “a good decade for billionaires.”
By contrast, progress on reducing poverty has stalled, with global poverty levels “broadly where they were in 2019,” the report said.
Oxfam argued that extreme wealth is increasingly being converted into political and media power. It cited Elon Musk’s role in the US administration at the start of 2025, Jeff Bezos’s ownership of The Washington Post, and French billionaire Vincent Bollore’s control of broadcaster CNews as examples of how media influence is concentrated among the ultra-rich.
“The outsized influence that the super-rich have over our politicians, economies and media has deepened inequality and led us far off track on tackling poverty,” said Oxfam Executive Director Amitabh Behar in the report, titled Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Protecting Freedom from Billionaire Power.
The findings were released ahead of the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, where around 65 heads of state and 850 chief executives are expected to gather this week. US President Donald Trump is scheduled to address delegates on Wednesday.
Oxfam has published inequality reports to coincide with the Davos meeting every year since 2014. Last year, it warned that the world could see at least five trillionaires within a decade unless global tax systems are overhauled.
“The widening gap between the rich and the rest is creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable,” Behar said, accusing governments of making policy choices that protect elite wealth while suppressing public anger over rising living costs.
In the United States, Oxfam noted that Trump’s 2025 tax legislation introduced new breaks for high earners, boosting incomes for those earning more than $1 million by about 3%. At the same time, most Americans can no longer afford what researchers define as a “minimal quality of life,” while around 10% of the population lived in poverty in 2024, according to official data.
The charity urged governments to adopt national inequality-reduction plans, tax extreme wealth, strengthen safeguards separating money from politics and reinforce protections for freedom of expression.
Oxfam linked rising inequality to growing social unrest, noting that more than 140 significant anti-government protests took place in 68 countries last year and were “typically met with violence.” It added that cuts in foreign aid by wealthy nations — including the closure of USAID — could result in an additional 14 million deaths worldwide by 2030.
“Being economically poor creates hunger. Being politically poor creates anger,” Behar said.
