On the one hand, nearly half of the world’s population — over 3.7 billion people — live in poverty. On the other, the world’s 3,000 billionaires gained $6.5 trillion (€5.5tr) over the last ten years, the equivalent of 14.6% of global GDP.

That’s according to a new report from the British confederation of NGOs Oxfam. The group added that since 2015, the world’s richest top 1% increased their wealth by more than $33.9tr (€29tr) in real terms.

This amount could do a lot of good in the world, and according to Oxfam, it is enough to end global poverty 22 times. The prediction is based on World Bank data from 2021, showing that people living in poverty need an additional $8.30 per day on average to afford their basic needs.

To not only end poverty but meet all of the other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, including protecting the planet, the required sum would come to $4tr a year.

“Trillions of dollars exist to meet the global goals, but they’re locked away in private accounts of the ultra-wealthy,” Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said in the report.

While private wealth is increasing, governments are cutting aid

According to the report, wealthy governments have made the largest cuts to foreign aid since records began in 1960.

“The G7 countries alone, who account for around three-quarters of all official aid, are cutting aid by 28% for 2026 compared to 2024,” the group said.

The report also noted that 60% of low-income countries, where such aid is the most needed, are on the edge of a debt crisis. Low-income countries are often considered “risky”, and they therefore pay a lot more to finance debt from the market because of high interest rates, leaving less funding for healthcare or education.

Oxfam noted in its report that financing development should not rely on private investments, and instead the group recommended a “public-first approach”.

“Rich countries have put Wall Street in the driver’s seat of global development. It’s a global private finance takeover which has overrun the evidence-backed ways to tackle poverty through public investments and fair taxation,” Behar said.

Oxfam suggested that governments should invest in state-led development to ensure “universal high-quality healthcare, education and care services, and explore publicly-delivered goods in sectors from energy to transportation”.

However, Western governments are facing debt that is often equal to or more than their annual economic output, putting pressure on governments.

Public wealth is not growing as fast as private wealth.

Between 1995 and 2023, global private wealth grew eight times more than public wealth, which grew by just $44tr (€38tr). Private wealth swelled by a staggering $342tr (€292tr) in this period. For comparison, the annual global GDP is approximately $100tr (€85tr).

Oxfam suggested that governments should reconsider taxing the ultra-rich, saying that billionaires pay effective tax rates close to 0.3% of their wealth.

Oxfam International and Greenpeace together commissioned a survey examining what people think about taxing the rich in 13 countries, including the UK, France, Germany and Italy.

“Results of a new global survey show 9 out of 10 people support paying for public services and climate action through taxing the super-rich,” the study said, adding that there is an alarming need for financing in the UN’s developmental goals.

“Only 16% of the targets for the Global Goals are on track for 2030,” it concluded.

Oxfam condemns “private finance takeover” of development efforts, as over 3.7 billion people remain in poverty ten years after the Sustainable Development Goals were agreed.

New Oxfam analysis unveils “astronomical rise in private wealth”. Between 1995 and 2023, global private wealth grew by $342 trillion – 8 times more than public wealth.

Oxfam analysis also shows governments are making the largest cuts to life-saving aid since aid records began. Aid cuts could cause 2.9 million more children and adults to die by 2030, from HIV/AIDS causes alone.

Results of a new global survey show 9 out of 10 people support paying for public services and climate action through taxing the super-rich.

Oxfam urges new strategic alliances to address inequality; urgently revitalize aid and tax the ultra-rich; and assert new “public-first” approach over private finance.

The world’s richest 1% increased their wealth by more than $33.9 trillion in real terms since 2015, reveals new Oxfam analysis ahead of the world’s largest development financing talks in a decade, in Seville, Spain. This is more than enough to eliminate annual poverty 22 times over at the World Bank’s highest poverty line of $8.30 a day. The wealth of just 3,000 billionaires has surged $6.5 trillion in real terms since 2015, and now comprises the equivalent of 14.6% of global GDP.

Oxfam’s new briefing paper, “From Private Profit to Public Power: Financing Development, Not Oligarchy”, launches today ahead of the June 30 fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, hosted by Spain and joined by over 190 countries.

Wealthy governments are making the largest cuts to life-saving development aid since aid records began in 1960. Oxfam analysis finds that G7 countries alone, who account for around three-quarters of all official aid, are cutting aid by 28% for 2026 compared to 2024. Whilst critical aid is cut, the debt crisis is bankrupting governments – 60% of low-income countries are at the edge of a debt crisis – with the poorest countries paying out far more to repay their rich creditors than they are able to spend on classrooms or clinics. Only 16% of the targets for the Global Goals are on track for 2030.

Oxfam’s new analysis examines the failures of a private investor-focused approach to funding development. A decade-long effort by major development actors to recast their mission as one of supporting powerful Global North financial actors has led in fact to a host of harms and at the same time only mobilized paltry sums. The analysis also looks at the role of private creditors, who now outpace bilateral lenders by five times and account for more than half the debt owed by low- and middle-income countries, in exacerbating the debt crisis with their refusal to negotiate and their punitive terms.

“Seville is the first major gathering of countries worldwide at a time that life-saving aid is being decimated, a trade war has started, and multilateralism being fractured – all in the backdrop of the second Trump administration. There is glaring evidence that global development is desperately failing because – as the last decade shows – the interests of a very wealthy few are put over those of everyone else,” said Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International.

What the World Bank described as a “billions to trillions” paradigm shift has been a boon for wealthy investors – the richest 1% own 43% of global assets – but now faces overwhelming evidence of failure, even according to former champions. Alarmingly, there is new momentum behind the idea of diverting the little aid that remains to private financial actors.

“Rich countries have put Wall Street in the driver’s seat of global development. It’s a global private finance takeover which has overrun the evidence-backed ways to tackle poverty through public investments and fair taxation. It is no wonder governments are abysmally off track, be it on fostering decent jobs, gender equality, or ending hunger. This much wealth concentration is choking efforts to end poverty”, said Behar.

New Oxfam analysis shows that between 1995 and 2023, global private wealth grew by $342 trillion – 8 times more than global public wealth, which grew by just $44 trillion. Global public wealth – as a share of total wealth – actually fell between 1995 and 2023.

Oxfam is urging governments to rally behind policy and political proposals that offer a change in course by tackling extreme inequality and transforming the development financing system:

New strategic alliances against inequality. Governments must band together in new coalitions to oppose extreme inequality. Countries such as Brazil, South Africa and Spain are offering leadership to do so internationally. A new ‘Global Alliance Against Inequality’ supported by Germany, Norway, Sierra Leone and others sets an example for nations to back.

Governments must band together in new coalitions to oppose extreme inequality. Countries such as Brazil, South Africa and Spain are offering leadership to do so internationally. A new ‘Global Alliance Against Inequality’ supported by Germany, Norway, Sierra Leone and others sets an example for nations to back. Public-first approach – reject the Wall Street Consensus. Governments should reject private finance as the silver bullet to funding development. Instead, governments should invest in state-led development – to ensure universal high-quality healthcare, education and care services, and explore publicly-delivered goods in sectors from energy to transportation.

Governments should reject private finance as the silver bullet to funding development. Instead, governments should invest in state-led development – to ensure universal high-quality healthcare, education and care services, and explore publicly-delivered goods in sectors from energy to transportation. Total rethink of development financing – tax the ultra-rich, revitalize aid, reform debt architecture, and move beyond GDP indicators. Global North donors must urgently reverse catastrophic cuts to lifesaving aid and meet the 0.7% ODA target as minimum. Governments must back efforts for a new UN debt convention, and support the UN tax convention, building on Brazil’s G20 effort to tax high-net-worth-individuals.

“Trillions of dollars exist to meet the global goals, but they’re locked away in private accounts of the ultra-wealthy. It’s time we rejected the Wall Street Consensus and instead put the public in the driving seat. Governments should heed widespread demands to tax the rich – and match it with a vision to build public goods from healthcare to energy. It’s a hopeful sign that some governments are banding together to fight inequality – more should follow their lead, starting in Seville”, said Behar.

/ENDS

Notes to editors:

Oxfam’s media briefing note, “From Private Profit to Public Power: Financing Development, Not Oligarchy” can be downloaded here.

Oxfam’s analysis of the historic cuts to development aid and their impact on the poorest can be found here. The modelling on HIV/AIDS deaths was published in the Lancet HIV.

The study that surveyed global opinion on taxing the super-rich was commissioned by Greenpeace and Oxfam International. The research was conducted by first party data company Dynata in May-June 2025, in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Kenya, Italy, India, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, the UK and the US. The survey had approximately 1200 respondents per country, with a margin of error of +-2.83%. Together, these countries represent close to half the world’s population. See the results here.

The cost of ending poverty is based on the annual cost of ending poverty in 2024 for one year, for the over 3.7 billion people living below the $8.30 a day poverty line, according to World Bank data. The increase in wealth of the 1% since 2015 would be more than enough to meet this cost 22 times over. Another way of expressing this is that the total amount is more than enough to completely end poverty for 22 years. This is only indicative, as the cost of ending poverty would likely fall over the next 22 years anyway as the numbers living in poverty reduce, and the value of the wealth would increase as it would not be spent all at once. But nevertheless this comparison indicates the extent to which more wealth, which is being greatly concentrated in the hands of a few, could be directed to ending poverty instead of further inflating the fortunes of the richest. For further information on the calculations see the media briefing paper.

Oxfam will be hosting a major high-level event together with Club de Madrid, at 7pm on July 1, 2025, in Seville, joined by high-level government representatives on the media briefing note. Journalists are invited to attend and will be prioritized for questions. Please register here.

Moreover, an official side event on inequality and tax reform will take place at 2.30pm on July 1, 2025, at the FIBES Exhibition Centre room 20 joined by high-level government representatives from Brazil, Spain and South Africa, international organizations and global experts. See note here.

Over the past decade, the world’s richest 1 percent have increased their wealth by at least $33.9 trillion, according to a new analysis from the global anti-poverty group Oxfam International. That amount is “more than enough to eliminate annual poverty 22 times over” when calculating at the World Bank’s highest poverty line of $8.30 per day, the group said in a news release which also called for governments to invest in state-led development and to tax the ultrarich, among other requests.

Billionaires alone — about 3,000 people worldwide, the overwhelming majority of whom are men — have gained $6.5 trillion since 2015, according to the report, which was released ahead of an international conference in Spain on development financing.

“This immense concentration of wealth has translated to political power, in a movement towards oligarchy that sees ultra-wealthy individuals able to shape political and economic decision-making in ways that increase their wealth,” Oxfam said in its briefing paper, titled “From Private Profit to Public Power: Financing Development, Not Oligarchy.”

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Concern about wealth inequality has risen in recent years. Oxfam said in early 2024 that the world could have its first trillionaire within a decade if current inequality trends continued. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has suggested that in a fair society billionaires should not exist, and he and other leaders including former president Joe Biden have warned of an oligarchy taking shape in the United States.

Those frustrations coalesced this week in Venice ahead of the star-studded wedding of Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, which has sparked a variety of demonstrations pushing back against what protesters see as a manifestation of the era of the One Percent. One protest sign unfurled on St. Mark’s Square on Monday read: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.”

The proposals in the Oxfam report dovetail with such calls. Discussing how private investment has affected development, it urges a rejection of what some scholars call the “Wall Street Consensus,” which pushes for greater involvement of the private sector in public services, such as education and health care. Instead, the report calls for a “public sector-first” approach, starting by taxing the very wealthiest, who, the report says, “have transformed themselves from taxpaying stakeholders to creditors and shareholders, insulated from democratic demands.”

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In the report, Oxfam points to a proposal introduced by economist Gabriel Zucman at the Group of 20 summit in Brazil in 2024, which called for a minimum 2 percent tax on the assets of the world’s 3,000 billionaires with an annual revenue estimate of $200 to $250 billion.

The idea of taxing the fortunes of the wealthy has been debated for years. In an interview last year, Chris Evans, a professor of taxation at the University of New South Wales, described “gross inequality in wealth” as “a disaster for social cohesion.”

“There is certainly an argument for using some of the excess money at the top end to help some of the people at the bottom,” he said, “and we might just find that we’ll have a much fairer and more efficient society.”

Eric Zolt, a professor of law at the University of California at Los Angeles and an expert on taxation, said in an email that “despite the apparent appeal of using wealth taxes to reduce inequality, over the last 20 years the trend is against the increased use of wealth taxes.”

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“The revenue yields are remarkably low for all types of wealth taxes,” he added, noting that any sort of global wealth tax would struggle to find support in the U.S., where “a remarkably large number of the 3,000 billionaires are resident.”

An Oxfam report published Wednesday estimates that the richest 1% globally have seen their wealth surge by more than $33.9 trillion over the past decade, with just 3,000 billionaires accounting for $6.5 trillion of that increase.

The report, released ahead of June 30 development financing talks in Seville, Spain, argues that the international community’s plan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon in 2015 has failed utterly as global inequality has continued to expand, efforts to end poverty have stagnated, and the climate crisis has spiraled further out of control.

“There is glaring evidence that global development is desperately failing because—as the last decade shows—the interests of a very wealthy few are put over those of everyone else,” said Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International. “Rich countries have put Wall Street in the driver’s seat of global development. It’s a global private finance takeover which has overrun the evidence-backed ways to tackle poverty through public investments and fair taxation.”

“It is no wonder governments are abysmally off track, be it on fostering decent jobs, gender equality, or ending hunger,” Behar added. “This much wealth concentration is choking efforts to end poverty.”

According to Oxfam’s analysis, the roughly $34 trillion wealth increase enjoyed by the global 1% since 2015 would be enough to eliminate annual poverty “22 times over.”

“It’s time we rejected the Wall Street Consensus and instead put the public in the driving seat.”

The report argues that “a new agenda is needed” to break free from the private profit-centered global development model that has allowed international crises to run rampant while letting the ultra-wealthy continue growing their massive fortunes unabated.

The upcoming conference in Seville, the report states, represents a key opportunity for countries that are willing to “work together to tackle extreme inequality” and “reject the ‘Wall Street Consensus’ around financing development.”

“They can start by taxing the very wealthiest—a new global survey finds 9 out of 10 people support taxing the super-rich to raise the revenue needed to invest in public services and climate action,” the report notes. “Reforms to the international financial architecture and restoring aid are also key.”

The report comes as the world’s wealthiest countries, including the United States under President Donald Trump, are making unprecedented cuts to development aid spending, a surefire way to reverse any recent progress toward reducing global hunger, poverty, and disease.

Behar said Wednesday that “trillions of dollars exist” to tackle such emergencies, “but they’re locked away in private accounts of the ultra-wealthy.”

“It’s time we rejected the Wall Street Consensus and instead put the public in the driving seat,” said Behar. “Governments should heed widespread demands to tax the rich—and match it with a vision to build public goods from healthcare to energy. It’s a hopeful sign that some governments are banding together to fight inequality—more should follow their lead, starting in Seville.”

A decade after world leaders pledged to end inequality and poverty, the richest 1 percent have captured explosive wealth while development goals fall dangerously off track

As global leaders prepare to meet in Seville for the largest development financing summit in a decade, a new Oxfam report warns that international efforts to eliminate poverty and inequality have not only stalled—they have been actively reversed by a system that prioritizes the fortunes of the ultra-rich. Since 2015, the world’s richest 1 percent have seen their wealth grow by more than $33.9 trillion, with just 3,000 billionaires accounting for $6.5 trillion of that surge.

The findings, released in Oxfam’s new briefing paper From Private Profit to Public Power: Financing Development, Not Oligarchy, paint a stark picture of global economic priorities a decade after the international community committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Instead of closing the gap between rich and poor, wealth has concentrated at the top at record speed, even as global poverty and climate vulnerability persist.

“There is glaring evidence that global development is desperately failing because—as the last decade shows—the interests of a very wealthy few are put over those of everyone else,” said Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International. “Rich countries have put Wall Street in the driver’s seat of global development. It’s a global private finance takeover which has overrun the evidence-backed ways to tackle poverty through public investments and fair taxation.”

According to Oxfam’s analysis, the $33.9 trillion wealth increase enjoyed by the global 1 percent since 2015 would be enough to eliminate annual poverty 22 times over, based on the World Bank’s highest poverty line of $8.30 per day. And yet, more than 3.7 billion people remain in poverty around the world.

“It’s no wonder governments are abysmally off track, be it on fostering decent jobs, gender equality, or ending hunger,” said Behar. “This much wealth concentration is choking efforts to end poverty.”

Between 1995 and 2023, Oxfam reports, global private wealth grew by $342 trillion—eight times more than global public wealth, which rose just $44 trillion in that time. The richest 1 percent now hold 43 percent of the world’s total assets. The wealth held by just 3,000 billionaires is now equivalent to 14.6 percent of global GDP.

The scale of the disparity is matched by an erosion of public wealth and a devastating retreat in public investment. Global public wealth as a share of total wealth has declined over the same period. The development aid needed to combat global poverty, hunger, and disease is disappearing, with G7 nations cutting foreign aid by 28 percent for 2026 compared to 2024—the largest reduction since international aid records began in 1960. Oxfam warns these cuts could result in 2.9 million additional deaths from HIV/AIDS by 2030.

“The world’s richest 1% increased their wealth by more than $33.9 trillion in real terms since 2015,” the report states. “This is more than enough to eliminate annual poverty 22 times over at the World Bank’s highest poverty line of $8.30 a day.”

At the same time, low- and middle-income countries are burdened with debt payments to private creditors, who now hold over half of developing nations’ debt and often impose harsh repayment terms. “The debt crisis is bankrupting governments,” the report warns, noting that 60% of low-income countries are either in or on the edge of debt distress. These countries are often forced to spend more on repaying wealthy lenders than on healthcare or education.

The Oxfam report sharply criticizes what it calls the “Wall Street Consensus”—the dominant paradigm that treats private financial markets and investment banks as the engine of development. It argues that this investor-first model has failed both to deliver meaningful development outcomes and to mobilize significant resources.

“What the World Bank described as a ‘billions to trillions’ paradigm shift has been a boon for wealthy investors—the richest 1% own 43% of global assets—but now faces overwhelming evidence of failure, even according to former champions,” the report notes. “Alarmingly, there is new momentum behind the idea of diverting the little aid that remains to private financial actors.”

In its place, Oxfam is calling for a “public-first” model of development focused on rebuilding public wealth and delivering essential services like education, healthcare, and energy through public investment and fair taxation.

“Trillions of dollars exist to meet the global goals, but they’re locked away in private accounts of the ultra-wealthy,” said Behar. “It’s time we rejected the Wall Street Consensus and instead put the public in the driving seat. Governments should heed widespread demands to tax the rich—and match it with a vision to build public goods from healthcare to energy.”

According to a new global survey cited by Oxfam, 9 out of 10 people support taxing the ultra-rich to finance essential services and climate action. Oxfam calls this a rare moment of overwhelming global consensus in favor of equity.

The report outlines a comprehensive agenda for change:

Tax the ultra-rich : Support international efforts to tax high-net-worth individuals, including the UN tax convention and Brazil’s G20 initiative.

: Support international efforts to tax high-net-worth individuals, including the UN tax convention and Brazil’s G20 initiative. Revitalize aid : Reverse cuts and recommit to the 0.7 percent of national income target for official development assistance.

: Reverse cuts and recommit to the 0.7 percent of national income target for official development assistance. Reform debt : Establish a fair global debt architecture, including support for a UN debt convention.

: Establish a fair global debt architecture, including support for a UN debt convention. Build new alliances : Support coalitions like the proposed Global Alliance Against Inequality, led by countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Spain, Germany, Norway, and Sierra Leone.

: Support coalitions like the proposed Global Alliance Against Inequality, led by countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Spain, Germany, Norway, and Sierra Leone. Invest in public goods: Shift from private to public-led development in key sectors such as energy, transportation, education, and healthcare.

The June 30 International Conference on Financing for Development, hosted by Spain, will bring together representatives from over 190 countries. Oxfam views the summit as a critical opportunity for nations to commit to reversing course and confronting inequality at its root.

“Seville is the first major gathering of countries worldwide at a time that life-saving aid is being decimated, a trade war has started, and multilateralism [is] being fractured—all in the backdrop of the second Trump administration,” said Behar. “It’s a hopeful sign that some governments are banding together to fight inequality—more should follow their lead, starting in Seville.”