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DAVOS, Switzerland: Billionaires’ wealth grew three times faster in 2024 than the year before, a top anti-poverty group reported on Monday as some of the world’s political and financial elite prepared for an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.
Oxfam International, in its latest assessment of global inequality timed to the opening of the World Economic Forum meeting, also predicts at least five trillionaires will crop up over the next decade. A year ago, the group forecast that only one trillionaire would appear during that time.
OxFam’s research adds weight to a warning by outgoing President Joe Biden last week of a “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of very few ultra-wealthy people.” The group’s sharp-edged report, titled “Takers Not Makers,” also says the number of people in poverty has barely budged since 1990.
The World Economic Forum expects to host some 3,000 attendees, including business executives, academics, government officials, and civic group leaders at its annual meeting in the Alpine village of Davos.
What’s the worry about? ... The ‘new aristocracy’
President-elect Donald Trump, who visited Davos twice during his first term and was set to take the oath of office on Monday, is expected to take part in the forum’s event by video on Thursday. He has long championed wealth accumulation — including his own — and counts multibillionaire Elon Musk as a top adviser.
“What you’re seeing at the moment is a billionaire president taking oaths today, backed by the richest man. So this is pretty much the jewel in the crown of the global oligarchies,” Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International, said in an interview, referring to Trump and Musk.
“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,” he added.
Like Biden’s call for making billionaires “begin to pay their fair share” through the US tax code, Oxfam — a global advocacy group — called on governments to tax the richest to reduce inequality and extreme wealth, and to “dismantle the new aristocracy.”
The group called for steps like the break-up of monopolies, capping CEO pay, and regulation of corporations to ensure they pay “living wages” to workers.
How are the poorest faring?
Many investors racked up strong gains in 2024, with strong performances for top tech companies and stock-market indexes like the S&P 500, as well as the price of gold and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
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.
By contrast, at least four new billionaires were “minted” every week in 2024, and three-fifths of billionaire wealth comes from inheritance, monopoly power or “crony connections,” it said.
On average, Oxfam said, low- and middle-income countries are spending nearly half their national budgets on debt repayments. It also noted that life expectancy in Africa is just under 64 years of age, compared to over 79 years in Europe.
Will it be business as usual at Davos again this year?
Despite the growing gap between the über rich and the poor, the annual Davos confab, which formally begins on Tuesday, will likely focus this year again 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 business to reap greater efficiencies will also again be a central theme in Davos, despite worries in many sectors that AI could upend many white-collar jobs and displace workers in an array of industries.
Trump’s return for a second term will likely be on many lips in Davos, as will lingering conflicts, including wars in Ukraine and Sudan, along with hopes for a continuation of a ceasefire that began on Sunday between Hamas and Israel, pausing their devastating 15-month war in Gaza.
Forum organizers last week issued a survey conducted among 900 experts for “Global Risks Report,” which found that conflicts between countries was the top concern, followed by extreme weather, economic confrontation, misinformation and disinformation, and “societal polarization” — a nod to the gap between rich and poor.
As in past years, protesters calling for more economic equality, taxing the rich and pressing other demands took to the streets. Some blocked roads to Davos, snarling traffic in places and delaying trips for some attendees to the event, which runs through Friday.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.: Joe Biden spent his final full day as president Sunday in South Carolina, urging Americans to “keep the faith in a better day to come” and reflecting on the impact of the civil rights movement in pushing him into politics.
On the eve of Monday’s inauguration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, Biden delivered a final farewell from a state that holds special meaning after his commanding win in its 2020 Democratic primary set him up to achieve his life’s goal of being elected president of the United States.
Biden spoke to the congregation of Royal Missionary Baptist Church about why he entered public service — Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were political heroes, he said — and he thanked South Carolina for its support: “I owe you big.” Monday is the federal holiday honoring King, the slain civil rights leader.
“We know the struggle to redeeming the soul of this nation is difficult and ongoing,” Biden said. “We must hold on to hope. We must stay engaged. We must always keep the faith in the better day to come.”
He added: “I’m not going anywhere” — and the congregation applauded.
Before the service, as hostages started to be released under a Middle East ceasefire that the US helped broker, Biden said “the guns in Gaza have gone silent.” The agreement to halt the fighting between Israel and Hamas was one he had outlined in May.
“Now it falls on the next administration to help implement this deal. I was pleased to have our team speak as one voice in the final days,” Biden said.
He noted that the three hostages released Sunday “appear to be in good health” and he offered some advice to Trump on maintaining the hard-won deal.
“Success is going to require persistence, and continuing support for our friends in the region and the belief in diplomacy backed by deterrence,” Biden said.
After Biden spoke on the ceasefire, he and first lady Jill Biden took their seats in the front pew at the church. At least several hundred congregants sang gospel songs, rising to their feet and swaying and clapping. A choir led the musical selections from behind the pulpit before the program later shifted to focus on King.
Biden was introduced by Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., a key ally who referred to the president as his “longtime friend.” Clyburn cited a number of presidents who were underappreciated during their time in office but are now looked on more fondly with the passage of time. He added Biden to that list.
“So I want to say to you, good friend, very little appreciation has been shown recently but faint not. History will be very proud of you,” Clyburn said.
The Bidens also will tour the International African American Museum in South Carolina. It was built on a waterfront site where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans were brought to the US from the late 1760s through 1808, according to the museum’s website.
Back in 2020, Biden saw his campaign flounder after he lost the opening contests in New Hampshire, Iowa and Nevada. But at the fourth stop, South Carolina — where Black voters make up a majority of the Democratic electorate — he was lifted to victory after Clyburn’s endorsement.
“I know Joe. We know Joe. But most importantly, Joe knows us,” Clyburn said at the time.
After winning election and taking office, Biden pushed for South Carolina to move to the head of the line and be the state that opened the Democratic Party’s nominating process for 2024, instead of New Hampshire. He easily won the state’s primary that year.
“In 2020, it was the voters of South Carolina who proved the pundits wrong, breathed new life into our campaign, and set us on the path to winning the presidency,” Biden said in a statement after winning the primary for the second time. “Now in 2024, the people of South Carolina have spoken again and I have no doubt that you have set us on the path to winning the Presidency again — and making Donald Trump a loser — again.”
It didn’t turn out that way. After faltering in a debate against Trump, Biden dropped out of the race under pressure from many Democrats, though Clyburn notably was not among them.
Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced him as the Democrats’ nominee. She lost to Trump.
Clyburn said Biden told him he wanted to visit the African American history museum, which Clyburn helped start. They were planning to spend some time together there.
“This is his way of saying ‘thank you,’” Clyburn said.