World's 10 richest men doubled their wealth during pandemic
A published report showed that the world's 10 richest men's wealth accumulated more during the Covid pandemic more than it did the previous 14 years, as the Oxfam group calls this inequality "economic violence."
-
The billionaires' wealth multiplied during the pandemic more than it did the previous 14 years.
The world's 10 wealthiest men doubled their fortunes during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic as poverty and inequality soared, a report revealed on Monday.
Oxfam --a confederation of charities that focus on alleviating global poverty-- revealed that the men's wealth jumped from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion, at an average rate of $1.3 billion per day, in a briefing published before a virtual mini-summit of world leaders being held under the auspices of the World Economic Forum.
The billionaires' wealth multiplied during the pandemic more than it did in the previous 14 years when the world economy was in the worst recession since the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Oxfam indicated.
It called this inequality "economic violence" and warned that inequality is contributing to the death of 21,000 people every day due to a lack of access to healthcare, gender-based violence, hunger, and climate change.
The pandemic has plunged 160 million people into poverty, the charity added, with non-white ethnic minorities and women bearing the brunt of the impact as inequality soared.
Oxfam urged tax reforms to fund worldwide vaccine production as well as healthcare, climate adaptation, and gender-based violence reduction to help save lives.
The group explained that it based its wealth calculations on the most up-to-date and comprehensive data sources available, and used the 2021 Billionaires List compiled by the US business magazine Forbes.
Forbes listed the world's 10 richest men as Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, former Microsoft CEOs Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer, former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, US investor Warren Buffet and the head of the French luxury group LVMH, Bernard Arnault.
