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, last year alone increasing by $2.5 trillion – enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over.
The report "Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Protecting Freedom Against Billionaire Power” analyses how the super-rich globally are securing political power to shape the rules of our economies and societies for their own gain and to the detriment of the rights and freedoms of people around the world.
The figures come as one in four people globally don’t regularly have enough to eat and nearly half the world’s population live in poverty. Oxfam says we are currently living in the ‘billionaire’s decade’.
Oxfam’s report finds that globally:
- 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 with a World Values Survey of 66 countries finding that almost half of all people polled say that “the rich often buy elections” in their country.
In relation to the UK:
- The richest 56 people - all billionaires - have a combined wealth greater than 27 million other people combined, that’s 39 per cent of the UK population.
- In the last year, the average wealth of the UK’s billionaires have grown five times faster than inflation-adjusted earnings. The average growth of a UK billionaire’s wealth was £231 million in the last 12 months.
- In less than the time it takes to watch a football match, the average UK billionaire will gain more wealth than someone on an average UK salary will earn all year.
Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “Most people do not want a world dominated by billionaires. Yet, around the world, economic inequality has reached emergency levels: weakening economies, fuelling division, and holding back progress on everything from tackling poverty to protecting the environment. No country, including Scotland, can afford to be complacent. Inequality is not a given; combating it is urgent and possible.”
Alongside calling for action by the UK Government to tackle inequality, Oxfam Scotland is urging all political parties in Scotland to make reducing inequality the defining mission of the next Scottish Parliament. Without bold action, substantial income and wealth gaps will continue to hold Scotland back.
Here, the wealthiest 2% of households have more wealth than the bottom 50% combined. At the same time, one in five people live in poverty and the Scottish Human Rights Commission says fiscal policy across the UK, including Scotland, is failing to mobilise the resources needed to uphold human rights.
Campaigners are calling for a clear national goal to shrink these gaps, backed by a step-by-step plan from the Poverty and Inequality Commission to track progress, ensure accountability, and set measurable milestones at every stage. This would give Scotland the chance to lead the way and show how bold action can deliver real change at national level, while raising its voice for deeper action at UK and global levels.
Momentum is growing internationally to tackle inequality. Last year, the Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality, convened under South Africa’s G20 Presidency and chaired by Professor Joseph Stiglitz, a member of the Scottish Government’s former Council of Economic Advisers, urged countries to consider setting National Inequality Reduction Plans, with clear targets to close the gap between rich and poor, much like nations set targets to cut carbon emissions. The Committee said that inequality not only damages individuals with low incomes, but also the economy as a whole.
Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “Scotland has the chance to show the world that fairness and prosperity go hand in hand. By setting a bold, measurable goal to reduce inequality, Scotland can help build a society where income, wealth and power are shared more equally, and everyone has the chance to thrive. Every party should back this ambition and commit to the action needed to make it real.”
Oxfam Scotland is also calling on the UK Government to ensure that excess wealth and profits in the UK are used to help create a fairer future for everyone, including through a 2% wealth tax on the richest millionaires and billionaires. YouGov polling for Oxfam showed that 79% of people in Scotland support a wealth tax on those with assets worth more than £10 million.
/ENDS
For more information and interviews, please contact: Rebecca Lozza, Media and Communications Adviser, Oxfam Scotland: rlozza1@oxfam.org.uk / 07917738450
Notes to Editor
- Download Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Protecting Freedom Against Billionaire Power:
- Full report (Embargoed) https://oxfam.box.com/s/rpcrd5641my98i53l6u9fdabcd3toaio
- Exec summary (Embargoed) https://oxfam.box.com/s/5eif0cw5b14fe02swatt1skfbdjdp53p
- Methodology note (Embargoed) https://oxfam.box.com/s/sw2wy65r8utiodro1019tz7zesr4q9nk
- 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.
- Key UK stats (correct to 30 November 2025)
- Number of billionaires: 56
- Total billionaire worth as of 30 November 2025: 252,900,000,000 $USD / 188,157,600,000 Pound
- Total billionaire wealth increase since 30 November 2024: 14,879,631,878 $USD / 11,070,446,117 Pound
- % Billionaire wealth (total billionaire wealth, if there’s a new billionaire then included) real term (adjusted for inflation) increase since 2024: 6%
- Increase in number of billionaires: -1
- The average billionaire’s wealth (including only those who were billionaires in both 2024 and 2025) increased by: 311,209,422 $USD / 231,539,810 Pound
- Country’s billionaires are richer than 39% of the population, 26,963,895 people combined.
- It would take 102 minutes for the average billionaire to make the average person’s annual income.
- The average billionaire could buy 34 tonnes of gold with their wealth.
- Oxfam’s Scotland’s paper, A Vision for a Just Scotland, calls for a stretching new goal to reduce income and wealth inequality.
- Latest data shows the Palma ratio – the combined wealth of the richest 10 per cent of the Scottish population compared to the combined share of the poorest 40 per cent – for wealth inequality in Scotland is 7.6. While the equivalent ratio for income inequality is much lower at 1.43 and this level has fluctuated, income inequality has grown over the last three decades.
- Polling by YouGov for Oxfam Scotland found that 79% of people in Scotland would prefer a tax on the richest over cuts to public spending. A 2% wealth tax on assets over £10m would impact just 0.04% of the population.
