$18.3 Trillion Club: Billionaires 4,000x more likely to rule, warns Oxfam

$2.5 Trillion in One Year: The Billionaire Boom That's Breaking Democracies

As the world’s most influential leaders, financiers and billionaires descend on the snow-covered streets of Davos for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026, a stark warning has arrived alongside them. A new report by Oxfam International says global wealth inequality has entered a dangerous new phase — one where extreme wealth is not just growing faster than ever, but is increasingly translating into political power.

 

According to the report, billionaires are now 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary citizens, a concentration of influence that Oxfam describes as deeply destabilising for democracies worldwide. At the same time, the collective wealth of the world’s billionaires surged to a record $18.3 trillion in 2025, rising more than three times faster than the average pace of the previous five years.

 

In Indian terms, that figure translates to over ₹1,660 lakh crore — a sum so large that it dwarfs the GDP of most countries.

 

Wealth at the Top Is Accelerating — Fast

 

Oxfam’s findings show that billionaire wealth rose by over 16% in 2025 alone, and has increased 81% since 2020, fuelled by booming equity markets, AI-driven stock rallies, and policy environments that have increasingly favoured capital over labour.

 

Oxfam said the surge in billionaire wealth coincided with the US Trump administration pursuing a pro-billionaire agenda, as it has slashed taxes for the super-rich, undermined global efforts to tax large corporations, reversed attempts to address monopoly power and contributed to the growth of AI-related stocks that have provided a boon to super-rich investors worldwide.  "The widening gap between the rich and the rest is at the same time creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable," Oxfam's executive director Amitabh Behar said.

 

The report estimates that billionaire wealth grew by $2.5 trillion in just one year — almost equal to the combined wealth of the bottom half of humanity, roughly 4.1 billion people.

 

“This single year’s increase would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over,” the report noted.

 

At the same time, global deprivation remains severe. Oxfam highlights that one in four people worldwide do not have enough food on a regular basis, while nearly half the world’s population lives in poverty, facing rising costs of housing, healthcare, education and energy.

 

Oxfam said the Trump presidency has sent a clear warning sign to the rest of the world about the power of the ultra-rich and the rising oligarchy, which is undermining societies worldwide rather than being solely a US phenomenon.

 

Why This Should Matter to Investors and Wealth Holders

 

For readers tracking global wealth, markets, or policymaking, the report’s most significant finding is not just inequality — but how closely wealth and political influence are now intertwined.

 

Oxfam argues that extreme wealth is increasingly being used to shape laws, taxes, media narratives and regulatory frameworks, often in ways that protect capital at the expense of broader economic stability.

 

The report notes that billionaire wealth growth coincided with a series of policy shifts under the Trump administration, including:

 

Tax cuts favouring the ultra-rich

 

Weakened global efforts to tax multinational corporations

 

Reduced antitrust enforcement

 

Policies that indirectly boosted AI and technology stocks, disproportionately benefitting large investors

 

While the US is highlighted, Oxfam stresses this is not a uniquely American phenomenon, but a global trend where political systems are becoming more responsive to wealth than to voters.

 

When Wealth Shapes Politics, Stability Is at Risk

 

The report draws a direct link between inequality and democratic erosion. Countries with high wealth inequality are seven times more likely to experience democratic backsliding, including weakened rule of law, compromised elections and reduced civil liberties.

 

Oxfam cites data showing that almost half of people across 66 countries believe the rich routinely “buy elections” in their nations. In 2025 alone, there were 142 major anti-government protests across 68 countries, many triggered by cost-of-living pressures and perceptions of elite capture.

 

“Being economically poor creates hunger. Being politically poor creates anger,” said Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International.

 

For markets and investors, this matters because political instability, social unrest and populist backlash can directly disrupt economic growth, capital flows and asset valuations — even in advanced economies.

 

Media Power Is Also Concentrating

 

Oxfam also flagged the growing concentration of media ownership in the hands of billionaires, warning that control over information is becoming another lever of influence.

 

The report points out that billionaires now own more than half of the world’s largest media companies, including:

 

Jeff Bezos (The Washington Post)

Elon Musk (X, formerly Twitter)

Patrick Soon-Shiong (Los Angeles Times)

 

Billionaire consortium stakes in The Economist

 

In the UK, three-quarters of newspaper circulation is controlled by just four wealthy families, while in France, far-right billionaire Vincent Bolloré has reshaped CNews into a Fox News–style channel.

 

This concentration, Oxfam argued, risks narrowing public discourse and weakening accountability.

 

A Call for Policy Reset — Not Just Protest

 

Oxfam is not calling for wealth destruction, but for rebalancing power. Its recommendations include:

 

• Time-bound national plans to reduce inequality
• Higher and more effective taxation of extreme wealth
• Stronger firewalls between money and political decision-making
• Protection of civil liberties, unions and independent media

 

Oxfam said the report referred to the Forbes billionaires list, the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 report, the World Bank June 2025 Update to Global Poverty Lines, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Global Protest Tracker, and a Freedom House report as its various sources.  

Oxfam urged governments to adopt national inequality reduction plans, impose higher †taxes on extreme wealth and strengthen firewalls between money and politics, including curbs on lobbying ‌and campaign financing.

 

Wealth taxes are levied in just a few countries such as Norway at †present ‌but others, from Britain to France and Italy, have debated similar moves.  wITH INPUTS FROM aGENCIES