Billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion in 2024, at a rate three times faster than the year before, according to a report by international charity and humanitarian organization Oxfam.

“The capture of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once considered unimaginable. The failure to stop billionaires is now spawning soon-to-be trillionaires. Not only has the rate of billionaire wealth accumulation accelerated —by three times— but so too has their power,” said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar.

According to Oxfam statistics, 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, while the number of people living in poverty has remained virtually unchanged since 1990.

This ever-growing concentration of wealth is enabled by a monopolistic concentration of power, with billionaires increasingly exerting influence over industries and public opinion.

Oxfam believes that in order to reduce the growing inequality in the world, it is necessary to reform the tax policy everywhere. Special attention is paid to the fact that half of billionaires live in countries where there is no inheritance tax for direct descendants. This factor contributes to the formation of an aristocracy, which in turn increases the capital imbalance between the global South and North, the report says.