Billionaire wealth surged at three times its recent pace last year to reach its highest level on record, deepening economic and political divides that threaten democratic stability, anti-poverty group Oxfam said on Monday (January 19).

In a report timed for the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the charity said the fortunes of global billionaires jumped 16% in 2025 to $18.3 trillion, extending an 81% rise since 2020.

"Last year, they added $2.5 trillion to their equity, which is three times faster than the previous years. And just to put this in context, that $2.5 trillion can eradicate poverty 26 times over," Oxfam International Director General Amitabh Behar told Reuters in Davos.

The gains happened even as one in four people worldwide struggle to eat regularly and nearly half the global population live in poverty.

Oxfam’s study, which draws on academic research and data sources ranging from the World Inequality Database to Forbes' rich list, argues that the wealth boom is being matched by a dramatic concentration of political clout, with billionaires 4,000 times more likely than ordinary citizens to hold political office.

The group links the latest wealth surge to policies under U.S. President Donald Trump, whose second administration has cut taxes, shielded multinational corporations from international pressure and eased scrutiny of monopolies.

"Governments are making a bad choice. They're backing more wealth for the billionaires instead of backing freedoms for common people," Behar said. "When you have economic poverty, it will lead to hunger. But when you have political poverty - that's what we are seeing now - it leads to anger."

Oxfam urged governments to adopt national inequality reduction plans, impose higher taxes on extreme wealth and strengthen firewalls between money and politics, including curbs on lobbying and campaign financing.

-Cecile Mantovani, Ardee Napolitano/Reuters