Trillionaire? One study says we'll see them within a decade (2024)

The prediction, which was part of the group’s annual assessment of inequities, follows a year where the world’s 10 richest people saw their collective fortunes increase by nearly half a trillion dollars. Oxfam, which has historically been critical of billionaires, pointed out the disparities between the richest slice and the rest of the world. Its report noted that the net worth of the five richest people in the world have jumped 114% since 2020, which works out to an hourly wage of $14 million per hour.

“The richest 1 percent own 43 percent of all global financial assets,” the group wrote. “If corporations were structured more democratically, that could significantly reduce inequality. For instance, if 10 percent of every business in the U.S. was employee-owned, it could double the share of wealth of the bottom 50 percent and the median wealth of Black households.”

As of today, no billionaire is within striking distance of becoming a trillionaire. Elon Musk is, at present, the world’s richest person, with a net worth of $206 billion, while Jeff Bezos is in the number two position with $179 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Of course, the idea of a billionaire was largely unthinkable a century ago. John Rockefeller, who is thought to become the first person to achieve that status, didn’t hit it until 1916.

Oxfam’s report calls for a wealth tax on the world’s richest people. The group estimates that could generate up to $1.8 trillion per year, which it suggests could be used to “invest in public services and infrastructure and to support climate action initiatives that could better everyone’s lives, not just those of the ultra-wealthy.”

At the current rate, the group says, it will take 230 years to end poverty.