Billionaire wealth jumps three times faster in 2025 to highest peak ever, sparking dangerous political inequality says Oxfam

• In the UK, the richest 56 people now hold more wealth than 27 million combined, highlighting the scale of wealth concentration.
• Billionaire wealth globally is now $18.3 trillion – its highest level in history. In 2025 billionaires' wealth jumped by over 16 per cent in 2025, three times faster than the past five-year average.
• Extreme wealth is increasingly translating into political power, with billionaires estimated to be 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary citizens
• The number of billionaires in the world has now reached 3,000 for the first time ever. Oxfam’s new report: ‘Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Protecting Freedom from Billionaire Power’ calculates that since 2020, billionaire wealth has increased by a staggering 81%.

Oxfam conclude that this is the ‘Billionaire’s decade’. The surge in wealth comes as 1 in 4 people globally do not regularly have enough to eat, and nearly half of the world’s population lives in poverty. The collective global wealth of billionaires last year increased by $2.5 trillion which would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over.

The research analyses how the super-rich are securing political power, and increasingly media influence, to shape the rules of our economies and societies in their favour. It identifies a dangerous trend: as extreme wealth grows rapidly, political rights and civil liberties are declining worldwide.

Tens of millions of people, feeling trapped in poverty and powerless to influence the system, are taking to the streets but they are met with authoritarian measures. Oxfam argues that political leaders now face a stark and urgent choice: favour the wealthy few or defend the rights and freedoms of the many.

In the UK:

• The UK’s billionaires have seen in the last year their average wealth grow five times faster than inflation-adjusted earnings.
• 56 people in the UK - all billionaires - have a combined wealth greater than 27 million other people, 39 per cent of the population. The average growth of a UK billionaire’s wealth was £231mn in the last year.
• The average UK billionaire will gain more wealth than the value of the UK's average annual salary in less time than it takes to watch a premier league football match
• On average a person in the richest 1% in the UK owns 456 times more wealth than a person in the poorest 50%. The poorest half holds just 4.6% of the wealth, while the richest 1% own 21.3%. In 2024  the wealthiest 1% of UK adults had wealth of at least £2,317,452

Almost half of people surveyed in 66 countries say that “the rich often buy elections” in their country. Oxfam says this is a trend which is driving popular protests with Governments globally responding by curbing civil liberties, making it easier for the super rich to protect their wealth and power.

To break this cycle, Oxfam is urging governments to act now by:

• Tackling extreme inequality, including taxing the super-rich to reduce the concentration of wealth and power. Oxfam is pushing for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to bring in a wealth tax on assets above £10mn.
• Protecting democracy, by strengthening rules on lobbying, campaign finance and political influence.
• Defending people’s rights, ensuring ordinary people and civil society organisations can organise, protest and be heard without fear.

This year, the total wealth of the UK’s billionaires  grew by 11bn, an average of £30.3 mn a day. Meanwhile one in five people in the UK live in poverty. The UK Government must ensure that excess wealth and profit in the UK are used to help create a fairer future for everyone. Alongside Tax Justice UK, Oxfam is pushing for more taxes on the super-rich.