Over the past decade, the combined wealth of the world’s 3,000 billionaires has grown by $6.5 trillion (roughly £4.8 trillion) in inflation-adjusted terms—an amount equal to 14.6% of global GDP, according to a new report from Oxfam.
Zooming out further, the richest 1% of the global population have gained at least $33.9 trillion in real terms during the same period. That figure, the charity says, would be enough to end global poverty 22 times over.
These findings land amid mounting pressure on governments to implement wealth taxes aimed at the global ultra-rich.
Earlier this month in Paris, as French lawmakers debated a wealth tax proposal, activists from Oxfam France, Attac, and 350.org took to the streets holding images of French billionaires like Vincent Bolloré and Bernard Arnault. Their placards carried pointed messages: “Tax me,” “2% is nothing for us,” and “Proportionally I pay less tax than a nurse.” A large banner declared: “Taxing the ultra-rich means funding public services and the ecological transition.”
In the UK, the billionaire population has ballooned from just 15 individuals in 1990 to 165 in 2024, according to the Equality Trust. Over that span, the average wealth of these billionaires has skyrocketed by more than 1,000%. Meanwhile, Oxfam reports that their effective tax rates are around 0.3% of their wealth—dramatically lower than what most workers contribute.
Oxfam is urging the UK government to partner with international allies in addressing what it calls “extreme inequality”, noting that private wealth has grown eight times faster than public wealth—measured by net government assets—between 1995 and 2023.
Rachel Noble, senior policy adviser at Oxfam, warned:
“This government is in danger of veering dangerously off course on international development if it doesn’t recommit to proven strategies like public investment and equitable taxation.
The trillions hoarded in the accounts of the super-rich must be fairly taxed, and the government must make fighting inequality, gender injustice, and the climate crisis a priority.”
Some nations are already taking action. At last year’s G20 summit, Spain, Brazil, Germany, and South Africa backed a proposal for a 2% global wealth tax on the ultra-rich. The idea: reduce inequality and generate significant public revenue.
Leading French economist Gabriel Zucman estimates that such a tax could raise up to $250 billion annually.
