Billionaire wealth jumped by over 16 per cent in 2025, three times faster than the past five-year average, to $18.3 trillion – its highest level in history, according to a new Oxfam report today as the World Economic Forum opens in Davos.

Billionaire wealth has increased by 81 per cent since 2020. This comes as one in four people don’t regularly have enough to eat and nearly half the world’s population live in poverty.

Oxfam’s report finds:

• The collective wealth of billionaires last year surged by $2.5 trillion, almost equivalent to the total wealth held by the bottom half of humanity – 4.1 billion people.
• The number of billionaires topped 3,000 last year for the first time, while the richest, Elon Musk, became the first ever to briefly surpass half a trillion dollars.
• Billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people.
• The $2.5 trillion rise in billionaires’ wealth would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over.

“The widening gap between the rich and the rest is at the same time creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable.” said Oxfam Executive Director Amitabh Behar.

Oxfam estimates that billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary citizens. A World Values Survey of 66 countries found that almost half of all people polled say that the rich often buy elections in their country.

Billions of people are being left facing avoidable hardships of poverty, hunger and death from preventable diseases because the system is rigged against them. Worldwide one in four people face food insecurity, having to regularly skip meals.

The rate of poverty reduction has stagnated with levels broadly where they were in 2019. Extreme poverty is rising again in Africa. Political decisions made by governments across the world last year to slash aid budgets have directly hit people living in poverty and could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030.

Henry Tang, Director General of Oxfam Hong Kong, said: “Inequality in Hong Kong is widening, and it is essential that the government, businesses and the community join forces in tripartite collaboration to drive effective poverty alleviation and better protect grassroots communities.”

Oxfam is calling on governments to prioritise realistic and time-bound National Inequality Reduction Plans, with well-established benchmarks and regular monitoring of progress, including:

• Announce a Living Wage Rate: Since 2018, Oxfam Hong Kong (OHK) has championed a Living Wage initiative to promote a wage level that enables employees and their families to meet basic needs and maintain a decent standard of living. We recommend that the Hong Kong Government announce a living wage rate (HK$62.8 per hour in 2025) alongside the annual review of the statutory minimum wage. This would provide employers with essential information, encouraging them to voluntarily offer a living wage, protect employees’ basic quality of life, and help attract more people to join the labour force.​
• Encourage Corporates to Adopt Living Wage Practices: Since ESG reporting has become increasingly important for businesses, OHK has long advocated for companies to strengthen the “Social” dimension of their disclosures. We encourage corporates to incorporate living wage reporting into their ESG commitments and adopt policies that ensure their employees – including outsourced and frontline workers – receive a living wage.
• Drive Tripartite Collaboration for Poverty Alleviation Projects: By promoting tripartite collaboration between the government, businesses, and the community, resources can be pooled to support grassroots communities more effectively. OHK recommends that the Hong Kong Government continue to support the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SIE) Fund to drive innovative poverty alleviation projects that address emerging social issues and service gaps.

As one of the Fund’s commissioned intermediaries, OHK has effectively connected businesses and emerging social enterprises to co‑design impactful initiatives for people living in poverty. Continued support for the Fund will help scale effective projects and further improve social outcomes.

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Notes to Editor

• Download Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Defending Freedom Against Billionaire Power full report, executive summary and methodology note
• Billionaire data is based on Oxfam’s analysis of Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaire List for the year to 30 November 2025. Full calculations for billionaire statistics are in the methodology note
• Hunger figures are from The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 report. In 2024, 28% of the world population faced severe or moderate food insecurity.  
• Poverty figures are from the World Bank June 2025 Update to Global Poverty Lines. In 2022, 48% of the world population lived below US$8.30 at purchasing power parity per day.
• The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Global Protest Tracker details anti-government protests.
• A Freedom House report found that 2024 was the nineteenth successive year of decline in global freedoms

About Oxfam Hong Kong
Oxfam is a global organisation committed to creating a world without poverty through its advocacy, development and humanitarian work.

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