wealth inequality

New estimates show that just eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world. As growth benefits the richest, the rest of society – especially the poorest – suffers. Our economy must stop excessively rewarding those at the top and start working for all people.

EU governments are losing out on a staggering 286.5 billion euros in revenue annually, equivalent to 33 million euros per hour, due to their failure to fairly tax Europe’s wealthiest. This amount, equivalent to Finland’s GDP, represents what a European wealth tax of up to 5 percent could raise every year, according to Oxfam’s analysis. 

Less than eight cents in every dollar raised in tax revenue in G20 countries now comes from taxes on wealth, reveals new analysis by Oxfam today ahead of the first meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020 —at a rate of $14 million per hour— while nearly five billion people have been made poorer, reveals a new Oxfam report on inequality and global corporate power. If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade but poverty won’t be eradicated for another 229 years.

Pressure is piling on the G20 to lead a global push to increase taxes on the richest citizens back to past levels that most people believe were fairer and more useful for society. 

Widening inequalities are tearing our world apart. This is not by chance, but choice: “economic violence” is perpetrated when structural policy choices are made for the richest and most powerful people. But we can radically redesign our economies to be centered on equality, in which nobody lives in poverty, nor with unimaginable billionaire wealth—in which inequality no longer kills.

Despite being one of largest economies, Brazil is listed as one of the most unequal countries in the world. Although it has left millions of people out of poverty over the last decades, it still faces a huge gap between the country’s richest and the rest of the population. Learn more and support Oxfam's work on inequality.

Since the turn of the century, the poorest half of the world’s population has received just 1% of the total increase in global wealth. Meanwhile, half the new wealth has gone to the richest 1%. To help reverse this trend, we need rapid growth of equitable business structures with purpose, fairness and sustainability embedded into their model.

This report provides a picture of the current state of poverty and economic inequality in Nigeria, identifies the main drivers of this situation and presents some policy solutions.

The Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report shows once again that economic inequality remains at shockingly high levels.  The richest 1 percent now has as much wealth as the rest of the world combined.