World's 10 richest men doubled wealth during Covid: report

Oxfam said the wealth of the world's 10 richest men jumped from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion during the pandemic

Oxfam said the wealth of the world's 10 richest men jumped from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion during the pandemic

The world's 10 wealthiest men doubled their fortunes during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic as poverty and inequality soared, a report said on Monday.

Oxfam said the men's wealth jumped from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion, at an average rate of $1.3 billion per day, in a briefing published before a virtual mini-summit of world leaders being held under the auspices of the World Economic Forum.

It called this inequality "economic violence" and said inequality is contributing to the death of 21,000 people every day due to a lack of access to healthcare, gender-based violence, hunger and climate change.

The report follows a December 2021 study by the group which found that the share of global wealth of the world's richest people soared at a record pace during the pandemic.

The group said it based its wealth calculations on the most up-to-date and comprehensive data sources available, and used the 2021 Billionaires List compiled by the US business magazine Forbes.

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