Where Billionaire Wealth Is Concentrated

The combined wealth of the top five richest men has more than doubled since 2020, increasing from $405 billion to $869 billion. In that time frame, almost five billion people have seen their wealth decrease. This is according to Oxfam’s Inequality Inc. report, released to coincide with the kick off of the Davos summit, an annual meeting of the business and political elite.

As the following chart shows, only 20 percent of the world’s population lives in the Global North. Despite this, nearly 70 percent of all private wealth, and 74 percent of the world's billionaire wealth, is concentrated there. The five richest billionaires today, according to Forbes, are LVMH chief Bernard Arnault, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, investor Warren Buffet, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

According to the report, as many as seven in ten of the world’s biggest companies are run by a billionaire, or have a main shareholder who is a billionaire. Huge corporations are winning out too, as Oxfam’s analysts explain: “the biggest firms experienced an 89 percent leap in profits in 2021 and 2022. New data shows that 2023 is set to shatter all records as the most profitable yet. Eighty-two percent of these profits are used to benefit shareholders, who are overwhelmingly among the richest people in every society.”