EnglishData presented ahead of the World Economic Forum confirm that economic inequality has entered a phase of acceleration, not stagnation.
According to a report published by Oxfam in January 2026, billionaire wealth increased by 16.2% in 2025, reaching approximately $18.3 trillion-the fastest growth rate of the past five years. This pace is three times higher than the average recorded over the 2020-2024 period.
Over the same interval:
- nearly 3.83 billion people live below extended poverty thresholds;
- 28% of the global population faces moderate or severe food insecurity, according to the State of Food Security 2025 report (FAO, WFP, IFAD);
- the world's richest 12 billionaires hold a combined wealth greater than that of half of the global population.
Oxfam estimates that the wealth accumulated by billionaires in 2025 alone would be sufficient to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over, if functional redistribution mechanisms existed.
The report also shows that billionaires are thousands of times more likely than ordinary citizens to influence political decision-making-through financing, lobbying, and media control-transforming economic inequality into institutional inequality.
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