In the News
The Billionaire Boom: Wealth Concentration and Stalled Poverty Reduction

20th January 2025
In 2024, the wealth of the world’s billionaires surged by an unprecedented $2 trillion, growing at three times the rate of the previous year. This astronomical increase—amounting to $5.7 billion a day—has reignited debate over the concentration of wealth and its impact on global inequality. The latest report from Oxfam, titled Takers Not Makers, paints a stark picture: the global economic system is increasingly skewed in favour of a privileged few.
While billionaires multiply at record speed, with 204 new ones emerging last year alone, poverty reduction has stalled. Nearly 3.6 billion people still live on less than $6.85 a day (PPP), a figure that has barely budged since 1990. Oxfam argues that reducing inequality could end poverty three times faster, highlighting the structural flaws in how wealth is created and distributed.
Monopolies and Unearned Wealth
The report challenges the narrative that billionaires are self-made innovators. Oxfam estimates that 60% of billionaire wealth stems from inheritance, monopoly power, or cronyism. Monopolies, in particular, have become a dominant driver. Amazon, for instance, controls over 70% of online purchases in several major European markets, exemplifying how concentrated market power can entrench wealth.
Billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are not just economic titans but also wield growing political influence. This trend underscores the risks of unchecked wealth concentration, which Oxfam warns is "spawning a new aristocracy" of inherited privilege. Indeed, every billionaire under 30 in 2024 inherited their wealth, signaling the start of what some call the "great wealth transfer."
The Global North vs. The Global South
The distribution of wealth is starkly uneven across regions. Countries in the Global North hold 69% of global wealth, despite comprising just 21% of the world’s population. Meanwhile, the Global South faces persistent exploitation, with $30 million an hour extracted from their economies by financial systems centered in richer nations.
Debt repayments are a significant burden for low- and middle-income countries, consuming nearly half their national budgets. This financial drain limits investment in critical sectors like education and healthcare, perpetuating cycles of poverty and dependence.
The Gendered Dimension of Poverty
The burden of inequality falls disproportionately on women. One in ten women lives in extreme poverty, defined as earning less than $2.15 a day. Women are also overrepresented in precarious employment, such as domestic and informal work, further entrenching gender disparities in wealth and opportunity.
A Call for Bold Action
Oxfam’s report is not just a diagnosis but a call to action. It urges governments to implement progressive taxation, dismantle monopolies, and cancel debt for low-income countries. Taxing inheritance and closing tax havens could redirect billions toward public services and infrastructure, fostering more equitable economic growth.
Economic inequality is not just an abstract problem; it has tangible consequences for global stability and human well-being. As the wealth of the richest continues to soar, the need for systemic reform becomes ever more urgent.
Graham Watson's insight:
And on a global scale, Oxfam report that the world's billionaires are getting richer faster, with wealth growth three times faster than the previous year. In contrast, the number living beneath the World Bank's poverty line of $6.85 remains close to 3.6 billion, equivalent to 44% of the global population. One in ten live in extreme poverty, on less than $2.15 per day.
Is this appropriate? Should governments intervene and, if so, how should they do it? Taxing wealth is extremely difficult.
Glossary of Economic Terms
- Billionaire Wealth Concentration: The accumulation of wealth among a very small percentage of the population, often at the expense of wider economic equality.
- Cronyism: Favouritism shown to close friends or associates in economic or political decisions, often leading to unearned wealth.
- Inheritance Tax: A tax levied on wealth passed from one generation to the next, aimed at reducing intergenerational inequality.
- Monopoly Power: The ability of a single firm or individual to dominate a market, reducing competition and increasing wealth concentration.
- Progressive Taxation: A tax system where higher-income individuals or entities pay a larger percentage of their income in taxes. The marginal and average rate of tax paid rises with income.
- Global North/Global South: Terms used to describe the economic divide between wealthier, industrialised nations (North) and less developed countries (South).
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