The pandemic has made the world’s wealthiest far richer but has led to more people living in poverty, according to Oxfam: “Something is deeply flawed with our economic system.”
Lower incomes for the world’s poorest contributed to the death of 21,000 people each day, its report claims. But the world’s 10 richest men have more than doubled their collective fortunes since March 2020.
According to Forbes figures cited by the charity, the world’s 10 richest men are: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault and family, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Ballmer and Warren Buffet.
While collectively their wealth grew from $700bn to $1.5tn between March 2020 and November 2021, there is significant variation between them, with Mr Musk’s fortune growing by more than 1,000%, while Mr Gates’ rose by a more modest 30%.
“This year, what’s happening is off the scale,” said Danny Sriskandarajah, Oxfam GB’s chief executive. “There’s been a new billionaire created almost every day during this pandemic, meanwhile 99% of the world’s population are worse off because of lockdowns, lower international trade, less international tourism, and as a result of that, 160 million more people have been pushed into poverty.”
“Something is deeply flawed with our economic system,” he added.
The report also says:
- The pandemic is forcing developing countries to slash social spending as national debts rise
- Gender equality has been set back, with 13 million fewer women in work now than in 2019 and over 20 million girls at risk of never returning to school
- Ethnic minority groups have been hardest hit by Covid, including UK Bangladeshis and the US’s black population.
Oxfam’s report, which was also based on data from the World Bank, said a lack of access to healthcare, hunger, gender-based violence and climate breakdown contributed to one death every four seconds.
“Even during a global crisis our unfair economic systems manage to deliver eye-watering windfalls for the wealthiest but fail to protect the poorest,” said Sriskandarajah.
He said political leaders now had an historic opportunity to back bolder economic strategies to “change the deadly course we are on.”
That should include more progressive tax regimes, which impose higher levies on capital and wealth, with the revenue spent on “quality universal healthcare and social protection for all” Sriskandarajah said.
Oxfam is also calling for the intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines to be waived to enable wider production and faster distribution.
Source: BBC