How did the 10 richest people in the world double their wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Oxfam has highlighted Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' historic space flight at a time when millions were dying because they could not get vaccines or buy food

The world's richest people more than doubled their wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered the largest worldwide recession since World War II and exacerbated poverty.

And a new billionaire has appeared every 26 hours since the outbreak, according to the latest survey by British charity Oxfam.

The number of billionaires in the world rose in April 2021 to a record 2,755 , a marked increase of 660 people compared to the same period the previous year, according to Forbes' 35th annual list of the world's richest billionaires. They have a combined wealth of $13.1 trillion, compared to With a combined wealth of $8 trillion in the same period last year.

Economic Inequality

The report, published Monday, showed that the world's 10 richest people have doubled their fortunes, while the pandemic has pushed more than 160 million people into poverty, and has also claimed nearly 17 million lives.

The global economy is characterized by inequality. Oxfam has shown that the world's ten richest men own more wealth than the 3.1 billion poor people at the bottom. The report noted that "if the 10 richest men spent $1 million a day, it would take 414 years to spend their combined fortune."

The results of the British charity, which is based in Nairobi, Kenya, matched those of the World Inequality Lab, which said that the world's richest people, representing 10% of the Earth's population, collectively own about 321 trillion dollars (which amounts to 76 % of the global total), while the middle class, which represents about 40% of the world's population, owns up to $96 trillion, and the lower class, which represents about 50% of the world's population, has the equivalent of $9 trillion.

Pandemic Gains

Oxfam slammed the billionaires involved in the space tourism race, while highlighting Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' historic July 2021 space travel at a time when millions were dying because they couldn't get vaccines or buy food.

Oxfam said: "The increase in Bezos' wealth alone during the pandemic could have helped all people on earth get vaccinated."

Oxfam noted that billionaire Gautam Adani's fortune in India has multiplied eightfold during the pandemic, as the billionaire has benefited greatly from monopolistic practices, and is now exercising market control in the areas of power transmission, gas distribution and now privatized airports, all of which were considered public services in sometime.

Oxfam said Adani benefits greatly from fossil fuels, a sector in which the billionaire is trying to cement his presence.

The pandemic has also spawned new billionaires from the pharmaceutical field such as Moderna CEO Stefan Bancel, BioNTech CEO Ugur Şahin and BioNTech's medical director Özlem Turise.

The biggest annual increase in billionaire fortunes is due to the huge rise in stock prices, the increase of unregulated entities, the increase in monopoly power, privatization, as well as charitable foundations.

Oxfam has called on governments around the world to return vast fortunes to the real economy to tackle inequality by charging extra fees on the gains made by the super-rich during the pandemic.

A tax on the earnings of the world's 10 richest people during the pandemic could have generated about $812 billion, and Oxfam, whose report was also based on data from the World Bank, said more than 160 million people live on less than $5.50 a day.

There are 2,755 billionaires in the world who have seen their fortunes increase dramatically during the pandemic than in the entire past 14 years.

Big Billionaires

The wealth of the world's 10 richest people exceeds $100 billion, each individually, according to Forbes estimates. Tesla CEO Elon Musk comes out on top with $268.1 billion as of January 17, 2022.

Of the top ten, only one is not American, Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, with a fortune of $ 186.2 billion as of January 17.

Two of the top 10 billionaires come from technology industry leaders whose fortunes have soared to record levels in the midst of soaring tech stocks.

Oxfam reports that the fortunes of tech giants like Google and Facebook, now called meta, have skyrocketed during the pandemic while people were confined to their homes.