The organization estimates that the wealth of the 10 richest men now stands at $1.5 trillion. Oxfam is basing itself on the Forbes list of billionaires in 2021, which includes Elon Musk (Tesla), Jeff Bezos (ex-Amazon CEO), Bernard Arnault (luxury brands Louis Vuitton Moët Hennesy), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Warren Buffett (top investor). Two years ago, when the pandemic broke out, they still had a combined wealth of $700 billion. The increase is faster than in the past 14 years and the “largest measured increase ever,” Oxfam said.
Women and other disadvantaged groups such as people of color and LGBTQIA+ people are particularly victims of the pandemic, the organization says. Oxfam already pointed this out in a previous study into the distribution of wealth during the pandemic. Women and girls collectively lost $800 billion in revenue in 2020, Oxfam has estimated. They also lost their chance of a job or education.
In the Netherlands too, the gap between the very rich and the majority of the population is large, according to Oxfam. The combined wealth of the 2,120 richest Dutch people is greater than that of the 10 million poorest.
According to Oxfam, the Netherlands also has a responsibility to tackle the division of rich and poor. “But we hardly see that urgency in the coalition agreement that will be discussed in the House of Representatives this week,” says Oxfam director Michiel Servaes. “When it comes to international solidarity, tackling tax avoidance and a fair distribution of vaccines, the ambition really needs to be increased.”
Oxfam expects that inequality between countries will increase in the coming period. According to the organization, not temporarily lifting patents on corona vaccines means a greater chance of dying from the corona virus for people in developing countries.
Oxfam traditionally publishes the report with the start of the World Economic Forum held virtually this year in the Swiss mountain village of Davos.