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Billionaire wealth across the globe surged by USD 2 trillion in 2024 to USD 15 trillion at a rate three times faster than the previous year, a study showed on Monday here as the richest of the world began to assemble for their annual jamboree in this ski resort town. In its flagship inequity report released every year on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Oxfam International contrasted the huge jump in the billionaire wealth with the number of people living in poverty barely having changed since 1990. Wealth of billionaires in Asia increased by USD 299 billion in 2024, Oxfam said while predicting that there will be at least five trillionaires within a decade from now. The year 2024 saw 204 new billionaires getting minted -- an average of nearly four every week. Asia itself got 41 new billionaires in the year. In its report titled 'Takers, not Makers', Oxfam said the richest 1 per cent in the Global North extracted USD 30 million an hour from the Global South
Number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals in India, having net worth of over USD 30 million, fell 7.5 per cent last year to 12,069 but will rise to 19,119 in the next five years, according to Knight Frank. India's billionaire population rose to 161 in 2022 from 145 in the previous year and is estimated to rise to 195 individuals by 2027. Real estate consultant Knight Frank's on Wednesday released 'The Wealth Report 2023'. "India's ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) with net worth over USD 30 million is estimated to rise by 58.4 per cent in the next five years from 12,069 in 2022 to 19,119 individuals in 2027," the consultant said. The Indian high-net-worth individual (HNI) population, with asset value of USD 1 million and more, increased to 7,97,714 last year from 7,63,674 in 2021. The number of HNIs will rise to 16,57,272 by 2027. In 2022, the global population of UHNWIs declined by 3.8 per cent, after a record climb of 9.3 per cent in 2021, as the wealth and the investme