Davos, Switzerland – BillionairesWealth will grow three times faster in 2024 than last year, a top anti-poverty group said on Monday, as some of the world's political and financial elite prepared for an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

Oxfam InternationalIn his latest assessment of global inequality, which addresses the opening World Economic Forum The group also predicts that there will be at least five trillionaires in the next decade, up from just one a year ago.

OxFam research adds weight to a The warning came last week from outgoing President Biden “a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few extremely wealthy people.” The group's hard-edged report, titled Takers Not Makers, also said the number of people living in poverty had barely budged since 1990.

The World Economic Forum expects to host nearly 3,000 participants, including business leaders, academics, government officials and civic group leaders, at its annual meeting in the Alpine village of Davos.

President-elect Donald Trump, who has visited Davos twice during his first term, was planning to to be sworn in on Mondayis expected to participate in the forum event on Thursday via videotape. He has long championed the accumulation of wealth, including his own, and counts multi-billionaire Elon Musk as a top adviser.

“What you're seeing right now is a billionaire president swearing in the support of the richest man in the world,” Oxfam International CEO Amitabh Behar said in an interview, referring to Trump and Musk .

“It's not about one particular person. It's the economic system we've created where billionaires are now able to almost shape economic policy, social policy, which ultimately gives them more and more profit,” he added.

Like Biden's call to make billionaires “start paying their fair share” of the US tax code, Oxfam, the global advocacy group, has called on governments to tax the richest to reduce inequality and extreme wealth and “destroy the new aristocracy”.

The group called for steps such as breaking up monopolies, capping CEO pay and regulating corporations to ensure they pay workers a “living wage”.

Many investors saw big gains in 2024 for leading technology companies and stock market indexes like the S&P 500, as well as the prices of gold and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Oxfam says the wealth of billionaires grew by $2 trillion last year, or roughly $5.7 billion a day, three times faster than in 2023. The number of billionaires rose by 204 to 2,769, and The wealth of the 10 richest people increased by about $100 million per day, it said.

Citing World Bank data, the group points to continued poverty, saying the number of people living on less than $6.85 a day has “barely changed” since 1990. Oxfam used: Forbes' “Real Time Billionaires List”. for data on the ultra-rich as of the end of November.

In contrast, at least four new billionaires are “created” every week in 2024, and three-fifths of billionaire wealth comes from inheritance, monopoly power, or “crony ties.”

On average, low- and middle-income countries spend nearly half of their national budgets on debt service, according to Oxfam.It also noted that life expectancy in Africa is less than 64 years and in Europe it is more than 79 years.

Despite the widening gap between the über rich and the poor, the annual Davos confab, which officially kicks off on Tuesday, is likely to focus again this year on money-making and deal-making, as strong leaders grow in some Western countries and progressive causes such as; diversity and climate change are declining in the business world.

It The continued growth of artificial intelligence As a tool for businesses to achieve greater efficiency, it will also again be a central theme at Davos, despite concerns from many industries that artificial intelligence could disrupt many white-collar jobs and drive away workers in a number of industries.

Trump's return for a second term is likely to be key in Davos, as are long-running conflicts, including wars in Ukraine and Sudan, and hopes for continuity. the cease-fire that began on Sunday between Hamas and Israel, ending the devastating 15-month war in Gaza.

Last week, the forum's organizers polled 900 experts for the Global Risks Report, which found that conflict between countries was the top concern, followed by extreme weather, economic confrontation, misinformation and disinformation, and “social polarization.” the gap between the rich and the poor.

As in previous years, protesters took to the streets demanding more economic equality, tax cuts on the rich and other demands.

Some blocked roads leading to Davos, snarling traffic in places and delaying trips for some attendees to the event, which runs until Friday.