Oxfam, a humanitarian pioneer

I have written several columns in the past about the severe income inequality existing in the world today.

- ELFREN S. CRUZ

This has been the single biggest cause of the rise of populism whose ideology centers on blaming the elite for all the economic problems existing in the world.

People have often asked for the source of my statistics and I usually cite Oxfam as the primary source.

In 2014, Oxfam claimed that the 85 richest people in the world have as much wealth as the poorest half of the world. In 2016, Oxfam claimed 62 people had as much wealth as the poorest half of the world, which was about 3.6 billion people at that time. In 2020, Oxfam again said that the world’s 2,153 billionaires collectively have more wealth than 4.6 billion people.

For this report, Oxfam cited two sources, which were Credit Suisse and Global Wealth Databook for aggregate wealth data. The organization used the Forbes Billionaire List to estimate the total wealth of the world’s billionaires.

In January 2025, Oxfam published a new report called “Takers, not Makers: The Unjust Poverty and Unearned Wealth of Colonial Inheritance.” According to this report, in 2024, billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion, which was three times faster than in the previous year. They also estimated that around 60 percent of billionaire wealth comes from unearned sources, namely inheritance, monopolistic power or crony connections.

A major change in Oxfam reporting in 2025 is not just how much wealth is concentrated but also how it is obtained. A large share is taken and not earned through market competition alone.