inequality

Patients living in poverty in the Global South are being bankrupted by private healthcare corporations backed by multi-million-dollar investments from development finance institutions (DFIs) run by the UK, French, German and other rich country governments. DFIs like the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) invest public funds via the private sector to help foster economic development in the Global South and tackle poverty. However, Oxfam published two investigations on DFI funding into private hospital chains and other for-profit healthcare corporations operating in low- and middle-income countries and found cases of them.   

Across Europe and the world, people are facing rising energy bills and inflation driven by the Ukraine war and the aftermath of the pandemic. Meanwhile, big business in every sector, not just energy, are raking in extremely high and excessive profits.

The 1,000 richest people on the planet recouped their COVID-19 losses within just nine months, but it could take more than a decade for the world’s poorest to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic, reveals a new Oxfam report today. "The Inequality Virus" is being published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum’s ‘Davos Agenda’.

We need to transform our economies to deliver universal health, education and other public services. To make this possible, the richest people and corporations should pay their fair share of tax. This will drive a dramatic reduction in the gap between rich and poor and between women and men.

The richest 1 percent of the world’s population produced as much carbon pollution in 2019 than the five billion people who made up the poorest two-thirds of humanity, reveals a new Oxfam report today. It comes ahead of the UN climate summit in Dubai, amid growing fears that the 1.5°C target for curtailing rising temperatures appears increasingly unachievable.

The COVID-19 pandemic and cost-of-living crisis were a windfall for the ultra-wealthy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), who saw their wealth almost double between 2019 and 2022, reveals an Oxfam report published today ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings in Marrakech. 

This week, world leaders came together on the sidelines of the 2023 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit to urge for more global attention to addressing inequality. In a joint statement, they highlighted the urgency to save the inequality global goal (SDG10) and dramatically accelerate efforts to reduce inequality by adopting bolder targets and having more accurate tracking mechanisms.

Oxfam leaders, experts, and partners will be in New York for the UN General Assembly with a focus on the SDGs, inequality, climate, access to healthcare, humanitarian issues, and more. Oxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice and will bring this focus on inequality (Goal 10) and how it intersects with the entire 2030 agenda.

In response to the G20 communique, Oxfam says: ‘The G20 has failed to meet the huge challenges our world faces. They continue to stumble away from taking the bold actions necessary to tackle poverty, inequality, and climate change after an uninspiring and underwhelming Summit in India this weekend.” 

Pressure is piling on the G20 to lead a global push to increase taxes on the richest citizens back to past levels that most people believe were fairer and more useful for society.