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The combined wealth of the richest 1 percent will overtake that of the other 99 percent of people next year unless the current trend of rising inequality is checked, Oxfam warned today ahead of the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

The gap between the rich and the rest is extreme and growing. G20 nations are not immune.

The COVID-19 death toll has been four times higher in lower-income countries than in rich ones, according to a new report published today by Oxfam on behalf of the People’s Vaccine Alliance as the world marks two years since the World Health Organization declared the pandemic. 

“The G20 reiterated previous commitments to reduce inequality, boost the participation of women in work and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. The G20 said they would draw up a proper response to the refugee and migrant challenge next year, which is too late. The world needs urgent action now, not more words.”

Today’s World Wealth Report from Capgemini shows that times have never been better for the world’s wealthiest - since 2009 more than 4.5 million new millionaires have been created, rising to a total of 15.4 million millionaires across the world last year. Yet while the wealthy prosper, 702 million people living in extreme poverty are being left behind.

Eighty two percent of the wealth generated last year went to the richest one percent of the global population, while the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world saw no increase in their wealth, according to a new Oxfam report released today.

Dangerous, poorly paid work for the many is supporting extreme wealth for the few. Women are in the worst work, and almost all the super-rich are men. Governments must create a more equal society by prioritizing ordinary workers and small-scale food producers instead of the rich and powerful.

The 10% increase in foreign aid to $120 billion is welcome but still nowhere near enough to meet the needs of poor countries in the face of global economic meltdown.

Wealthy elites have co-opted political power to rig the rules of the economic game, undermining democracy and creating a world where the 85 richest people own the wealth of half of the world’s population, worldwide development organization Oxfam warns in a report published today. 

Sipho Mthathi has been appointed the founding Executive Director of Oxfam South Africa. Oxfam South Africa will become the first-ever Oxfam affiliate in Africa.