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| Jeff Bezos has spent much of his wealth on his space travel project Blue Origin. (Photo by= Getty Images) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] The pandemic has made the world's wealthiest far richer but has led to more people living in poverty, according to the charity Oxfam. BBC said that 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, Oxfam said. Oxfam typically releases a report on global inequality at the start of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. That event usually sees thousands of corporate and political leaders, celebrities, campaigners, economists, and journalists gather in the Swiss ski resort for panel discussions, drinks parties, and schmoozing. This week's discussions will include the likely future path of the pandemic, vaccine equity, and the energy transition. Danny Sriskandarajah, Oxfam GB's chief executive, said the charity timed the report each year to coincide with Davos to attract the attention of economic, business, and political elites.
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, 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%.
