G-20 billionaires’ earnings in 2024 enough to end world poverty: Oxfam

Billionaires in the world’s leading economies made US$2.2 trillion ($$2.9 trillion) in 2024, which would have been enough to lift all the world’s poor out of poverty, global campaign group Oxfam said on Nov 20.

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The British-based charity urged this weekend’s summit of the powerful Group of 20 (G-20) group of major economies to back initiatives by the host, South Africa, to address massive global wealth inequality and the debt undermining developing countries.

Billionaires in the 19 countries that are part of the grouping made US$2.2 trillion in 2024 as their combined wealth grew to US$15.6 trillion, it said, basing its figures on the Forbes list. “The annual cost to lift up the 3.8 billion people who currently live below the poverty line is US$1.65 trillion,” it said in a statement.