Ekonomia

The wealth of the 10 richest people in the world doubled during the pandemic, but the incomes of 99% of people have dropped

The wealth of the 10 richest people in the world doubled during the pandemic,

The 10 richest people in the world doubled their wealth during the pandemic, while the incomes of 99% of people have fallen, according to a report from Oxfam.

The anti-poverty charity usually publishes its inequality report before the World Economic Forum in Davos. The gathering of this forum brings together thousands of well-known business and political names in the Swiss ski resort for discussion.

For the second year in a row, the event will be held virtually due to COVID-19.

According to Oxfam, a new billionaire has been created almost every day since the pandemic erupted in March 2020. The fortunes of the 10 richest people in the world, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates doubled to 1.3 trillion euros, making them those six times richer than the 3.1 billion poorest people in the world.

The ranks of the super-rich have grown during the pandemic thanks to abundant financial incentives that pumped stocks.

"The pandemic has been a source of wealth for billionaires," said Oxfam International CEO Gabriela Bucher. "When governments made rescue packages and pumped trillions into the economy and financial markets to support everyone's economy, but many of them went into the pockets of billionaires."

Meanwhile, 160 million people are projected to have been pushed into poverty. The charity warned that at least 21,300 lives are lost every day globally due to inequality, one death every four seconds.

He said about 5.6 million people die each year from lack of access to health care in poor countries and that starvation kills at least 2.1 million people.

Oxfam called on rich countries to drop intellectual property rules on COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to expand their production.

He urged governments to focus policies on promoting equality by pouring more money into health care and social spending and pursuing efforts to end tax havens and corporate tax evasion.