The world's richest 1% own more than 95% of the world population

Global inequality casts a dark shadow over the annual debate at the UN General Assembly. That's according to Oxfam, which is calling on world leaders to act on a global framework for tax, debt relief and new international rules for pandemics.

The richest 1% own more than the poorest 95% of the world's population combined, reveals new Oxfam analysis of UBS data, ahead of the annual UN General Debate.

More than a third of the world's 50 largest companies, together worth $13.3 trillion, are now run by a dollar billionaire or have a dollar billionaire as their majority shareholder. Countries in the Global South, home to 79% of the world's population, own just 31% of global financial assets.

Oxfam's report "Multilateralism in an Era of Global Oligarchy" warns that multilateral attempts to respond to serious global challenges such as the climate crisis, poverty and inequality are being undermined by ultra-wealthy individuals and mega-corporations that fuel inequality within and between countries.

"The shadow of global oligarchy hangs over the UN General Assembly. The ultra-rich, and the corporations they control, are shaping global rules that serve their interests at the expense of people everywhere. The iconic UN podium feels increasingly diminished in a world where billionaires wield enormous influence."

Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International

The report describes a "movement towards a global oligarchy" where the ultra-rich, often through their increasingly monopolistic companies, shape global policymaking and rules to benefit themselves while hindering and impeding important global progress.

The richest 1% own 43% of all global financial assets. Only two companies control 40% of the global seed market. The big three US-based asset managers - BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard - have assets of $20 trillion, close to a fifth of all investable assets in the world.

"While there is often talk of rival superpowers undermining multilateralism, extreme inequality actually plays a big role here. In recent years, the ultra-rich and the powerful corporations have used their enormous influence to undermine efforts to solve our global problems such as tackling tax evasion, making Covid-19 vaccines available to the world, and writing off gigantic sovereign debts."

Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International

Oxfam describes three recent examples of how extreme inequality is undermining multilateral efforts - and where civil society and leaders in the Global South have proposed solutions to break the cycle of inequality:

• Powerful companies undermine tax cooperation. The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) failed to realise its potential, resulting in new profit-sharing rules that will provide only small additional revenues for low-income countries of as little as 0.026% of their GDP. The exclusion of financial services from the OECD rules is an exception reportedly created after lobbying by countries with large banking and financial sectors. Countries in the Global South, led by African countries, are instead pushing for negotiations on a fairer tax convention at the UN that, together with Brazil's leadership at the G20, offers a path to fairly tax the super-rich and mega-corporations.
• Big Pharma opposes efforts to break up monopolies over Covid-19 vaccine technologies and free up supply.Monopoly control over vaccine production was highly profitable during the pandemic. In 2021 alone, the seven largest manufacturers generated an estimated $50 billion in net profits from the sale of Covid-19 vaccines, resulting in huge payouts to wealthy shareholders and the emergence of new vaccine billionaires. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla described the call to share Covid-19 vaccine technologies as "dangerous nonsense." The failure to make vaccines fairly available contributed to 1.3 million deaths worldwide. A new pandemic treaty with strong provisions to suspend patents and allow easier transfers of vaccine technology offers hope.
• Private creditors are exacerbating the global debt crisis. Low-income countries spend almost 40% of their annual budgets on managing their external debt, which is over 60% more than they spend in total on education, health and social safety nets. Over half of low- and middle-income countries' external debt is owed to private creditors such as banks and hedge funds. Some of these creditors are 'vulture funds', which buy debt at a cheap price and exploit legal mechanisms for repayment, reaping excessive profits.

"Only solidarity-based multilateralism can turn the tide against global oligarchy. Some world leaders are showing they realize this and are standing up to fight inequality - but we need many to show this courage."

Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International

"Ultimately, a fairer world and international order - where corporations pay their fair share, global public health is prioritized, and all countries can invest in their people - benefits us all. This is not new, and it is what leaders, especially from the Global South, have long called for."

Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International

Background

Read Oxfam's report "Multilateralism in an Era of Global Oligarchy" here.