🌏 Oxfam: World's Top 1% Own More Wealth Than 95% of Humanity, Global Oligarchy
World's Top 1% Own More Wealth Than 95% of Humanity, Oxfam International, Sept. 23, '24. Ed.
- Over a third of world’s biggest 50 corporations —worth $13.3 trillion— now run by a billionaire or has a billionaire as a principal shareholder.
- Global South countries own just 31% of global wealth, despite being home to 79% of global population.
- Oxfam urges multilateral action to advance new global framework on tax, cancel debts and rewrite intellectual property rules for pandemics.
The richest 1% have more wealth than the bottom 95% of the world’s population put together, new Oxfam analysis of UBS data reveals today ahead of the annual UN High-Level General Debate. Billionaires are exerting new levels of control over economies, with a billionaire either running or the principal shareholder of more than a third of the world’s top 50 corporations. The combined market capitalization of these corporations is $13.3 trillion.
Oxfam’s briefing paper “Multilateralism in an Era of Global Oligarchy” warns that multilateral efforts to respond to critical global challenges, including the climate crisis and persistent poverty and inequality, are being undermined by the ultra-wealthy and mega-corporations fueling inequality within and between countries. Despite being home to 79% of the world’s population, Global South countries own just 31% of global wealth.
“The shadow of global oligarchy hangs over this year’s UN General Assembly. The ultra-wealthy and the mega-corporations they control are shaping global rules to serve their interests at the expense of people everywhere. The iconic UN podium is increasingly feeling diminished in a world in which billionaires are calling the shots,” said Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International’s Executive Director. The paper describes a “movement toward a global oligarchy,” where the ultra-rich, often through their increasingly monopolistic corporations, shape global political decision-making and rules to enrich themselves while thwarting vital global progress.
.. Recent examples of extreme inequality eroding multilateral efforts —and where civil society and Global South leaders have offered inequality-busting solutions: Big Pharma resisting efforts to break up their monopolies over Covid-19 vaccine technologies to unlock supply. Monopoly control over vaccine production was highly profitable during the pandemic. In 2021 alone, the 7 largest manufacturers generated an estimated $50 billion in net profit from the sale of Covid-19 vaccines, resulting in huge payouts to rich shareholders and the emergence of new vaccine billionaires. The CEO of Pfizer Albert Bourla described the call to share Covid-19 vaccine technologies as “dangerous nonsense.”
The failure to equitably share vaccines contributed to as many as 1.3 million excess deaths worldwide.
A new pandemic treaty with strong provisions to suspend patents and allow for easier transfers of technology offers promise...
https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/worlds-top-1-own-more-wealth-95-humanity-shadow-global-oligarchy-hangs-over-un
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- Global Oligarchy Reigns as Top 1% Controls More Wealth Than Bottom 95% of Humanity. "The ultra-wealthy and the mega-corporations they control are shaping global rules to serve their interests at the expense of people everywhere." Common Dreams, Sept. 23, 2024,
https://www.commondreams.org/news/global-oligarchy