Oxfam International has warned that the rapid concentration of wealth among the world’s billionaires is undermining democracy and deepening global inequality, as the number of billionaires surpasses 3,000 for the first time in history.
In a statement released on January 19 alongside its latest Wealth Tracker campaign, Oxfam said more than 3,000 billionaires now control a combined $18.3 trillion, marking the highest level of billionaire wealth ever recorded. The organisation cautioned that such concentration of wealth is increasingly influencing political systems, determining “who gets heard, who decides, and who gets left behind.”
According to Oxfam, billionaire fortunes have grown at three times the rate seen in the previous five years, a trend it says has accelerated since the election of former U.S. President Donald Trump in November 2024. While U.S. billionaires registered the sharpest gains, Oxfam noted that billionaires in other regions also recorded double-digit increases in their wealth.
The surge in billionaire wealth contrasts sharply with global living conditions, Oxfam said, noting that one in four people worldwide faces hunger, while poverty reduction has largely stalled since 2020. In Africa, poverty levels have risen, and in 2022, nearly 48 percent of the world’s population—about 3.83 billion people—lived in poverty, according to the organisation.
Oxfam distinguished between private luxury consumption and political influence, arguing that the greater danger lies in how extreme wealth is used to shape public life. The organisation said billionaire influence over politicians, governments, media outlets, and legal systems threatens fairness, accountability, and political freedom.
“This is not simply about yachts or luxury homes,” Oxfam said, but about the ability of the super-rich to “rig elections and economies” and place themselves above the law through financial power.
The organisation said the growing influence of wealthy elites over politics is a global phenomenon, not limited to any one country or region. It accused governments of “making the wrong choice” by protecting wealth rather than democratic freedoms, and by suppressing public anger over rising living costs instead of redistributing wealth more equitably.
Oxfam warned that the world has reached a critical point where extreme inequality is eroding civil and political rights, while dissent and protest are increasingly restricted in many countries.
The Wealth Tracker campaign calls for policies aimed at reducing extreme inequality, including fair taxation and stronger regulation of political financing, to ensure that economic power does not continue to translate into unchecked political influence.
