Global billionaire wealth surged to a record level in 2025, widening economic inequality and strengthening the political influence of the ultra-rich at a pace that threatens democratic systems, according to a new report by anti-poverty group Oxfam.
The report, released ahead of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, shows that billionaire fortunes rose 16% last year to $18.3 trillion, marking the fastest growth in recent years. Since 2020, global billionaire wealth has climbed 81%, driven by tax cuts, soaring asset prices, and booming valuations in artificial intelligence companies.
Oxfam said the sharp rise in wealth has occurred alongside deepening global hardship. Around one in four people worldwide struggle to secure regular meals, while nearly half of the world’s population lives in poverty.
Beyond economic inequality, the report highlights what it describes as an alarming concentration of political power. According to Oxfam’s analysis, billionaires are 4,000 times more likely than ordinary citizens to hold political office, giving them outsized influence over laws, regulations, and public policy.
The charity links the latest surge in wealth partly to policy choices under U.S. President Donald Trump’s second administration, including tax reductions, reduced oversight of monopolies, and protection of multinational corporations from international regulation.
At the same time, rapid growth in artificial intelligence-related firms has delivered substantial windfall gains to wealthy investors, further accelerating wealth concentration.
“The widening gap between the rich and the rest is creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable,” said Amitabh Behar, Oxfam’s executive director.
Oxfam urged governments to introduce national inequality reduction plans, impose higher taxes on extreme wealth, and strengthen barriers between money and politics. These measures include stricter limits on lobbying and tighter controls on campaign financing.
Currently, only a handful of countries, such as Norway, impose wealth taxes, though similar proposals have been debated in nations including Britain, France, and Italy.
The report estimates that the $2.5 trillion added to billionaire wealth in 2025 alone roughly equals the total wealth held by the poorest 4.1 billion people worldwide, a comparison Oxfam says underscores the scale of global imbalance.
As world leaders gather in Davos to discuss economic stability and growth, the charity warned that failure to address inequality risks undermining public trust, weakening democratic institutions, and entrenching power in the hands of a wealthy few.