World’s rich thrived, doubled fortunes to US$1.5 trillion, as coronavirus pushed millions into poverty, Oxfam says

Oxfam’s Inequality Kills study shows that billionaires have seen a record surge in their wealth during the coronavirus pandemic

The 10 richest people in the world have boosted their fortunes by US$15,000 a second or US$1.3 billion a day during the pandemic, according to the study

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According to Forbes, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was the world’s richest for the fourth year running in 2021, worth US$177 billion, followed by Elon Musk. Photo: Reuters

Thomson Reuters FoundationandAndrew Mullen

Published: 3:23pm, 18 Jan 2022

The world’s 10 wealthiest people more than doubled their fortunes from US$700 billion to US$1.5 trillion during the coronavirus pandemic as poverty rates soared, according to a study released by charity Oxfam ahead of a high-profile World Economic Forum (WEF) event this week.

Heads of state will join chief executives and other prominent figures this week to discuss the planet’s most pressing issues – from climate change to Covid-19 vaccine inequity – at the Davos Agenda 2022 conference.

The online meeting will be a springboard for WEF’s annual summit, which normally sees the world’s rich and powerful converge on the Swiss mountain resort of Davos each winter, but has been moved to summer because of the pandemic.

According to Oxfam’s “Inequality Kills” study, which was released on Monday, billionaires have seen a record surge in their wealth during the pandemic, with the 10 richest people in the world having boosted their fortunes by US$15,000 a second or US$1.3 billion a day.

If these 10 men were to lose 99.999 per cent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 per cent of all the people on this planet

Gabriela Bucher

“If these 10 men were to lose 99.999 per cent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 per cent of all the people on this planet,” said Oxfam International’s executive director Gabriela Bucher. “They now have six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people.”