Wealth of billionaires like Trump, Musk soared in 2024, report says during meeting in Davos

Billionaires’ wealth grew three times faster in 2024 than the year before, while the number of the world’s poor has barely changed over the last quarter-century, a top anti-poverty group reported in January.

Oxfam International, in its latest assessment of global inequality timed for an annual gathering of elites in Switzerland, also predicts at least five trillionaires will crop up over the next decade—a year after forecasting that one would appear over that span.

The sharp-edged report came as the World Economic Forum in January hosted some 3,000 people including business executives, government and civic group leaders, academics, and others at its annual meeting in Davos.

“It’s not about one specific individual. It’s the economic system that we have created where the billionaires are now pretty much being able to shape economic policies, social policies, which eventually gives them more and more profit,” said Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International.

Oxfam said billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion last year, or roughly $5.7 billion a day, three times faster than in 2023. The number of billionaires rose by 204 to 2,769, and the 10 richest men saw their wealth rise nearly $100 million a day on average, it said.

Citing World Bank data, the group pointed to lingering poverty, saying the number of people living on less than $6.85 per day has “barely changed” since 1990. Oxfam used Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaire List as of end-November for data on the ultra-rich.

Despite the growing gap between the über-rich and the poor, the annual Davos confab that formally began on January 20 appeared set to focus this year as much as ever on making money and doing deals, with strongman leaders on the rise in some Western countries and progressive causes like diversity and climate change waning in the business world.

The continued rise of artificial intelligence as a tool for businesses to reap greater efficiencies was a central theme in Davos again this year, despite worries in many sectors that it could upend many white-collar jobs and displace workers in an array of industries.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.