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For the first time in a quarter century, the world is seeing a simultaneous rise in extreme poverty and extreme wealth. Corporations and their owners, among others, are profiting from various crises. This is according to an annual report by Oxfam, the philanthropic association, released on Monday, Jan. 16, on the first day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The report said that a total of $26 trillion, or nearly 62 percent of the global wealth accumulated since 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, ended up in the hands of the richest 1 percent of the planet, while only $16 trillion, or 38 percent of that increase, went to the remaining 99 percent of the population.
A year earlier, the wealth of billionaires jumped again thanks to skyrocketing profits from food and energy companies. According to Oxfam, 95 percent of these companies more than doubled their profits in 2022.
At the same time, at least 1.7 billion workers live in countries where inflation now outpaces wage growth, the report noted. More than 820 million people, or about one in 10 people on Earth, suffer from hunger. And about 60 percent of the world's hungry are women and girls.
This is probably the largest increase in global inequality and poverty since World War II, the organization wrote, citing World Bank data. Oxfam called on governments around the world to raise taxes on wealth as well as on excessive excess profits resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and inflation in order to stop the spread of poverty and hunger.
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