Global billionaires made more money in 2025 than ever before, and their power in politics and media is growing fast, a major charity organization says. This growth in wealth is happening at the same time that many people still live in poverty.
The charity Oxfam released a new report as the World Economic Forum began in Davos, Switzerland. The report shows that the total wealth of the world’s billionaires jumped by 16% in 2025, reaching $18.3 trillion. Billionaires have more money now than ever before.
This jump is not a tiny change. It is almost three times larger than the growth seen in past years. The report also shows that since 2020, billionaire wealth has gone up by 81%.
At the same time, things are hard for many people. The report warns that one in four people in the world do not have enough food, and nearly half of all people live in poverty.
Oxfam says the growth in billionaire wealth is connected to changes in government rules, especially in the United States. According to the report, laws that cut taxes on the rich and flexible rules for big companies helped the wealth of billionaires grow faster. The jump in technology and artificial intelligence (AI) company values also helped make the richest people richer.
Another important concern in the report is that billionaires are getting political power. The study says billionaires are about 4,000 times more likely than regular people to hold a political office or be close to politicians. This means they can shape rules and decisions that affect anyone.
Oxfam’s executive director, Amitabh Behar, called this gap between the rich and poor peoples and hard to fix. He said when the richest few get so much power, ordinary people lose freedom and control over their lives.

The report also points out that many billionaires own major media companies. This gives them not only money but also a way to influence what people see and hear in the news and online. Some of the richest people in the world, like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, own big media groups.
The number of billionaires in the world also reached a new high. For the first time, there are more than 3,000 billionaires in the world. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, became the first person to have more than $500 billion net worth.
The report highlights another shocking fact: the $2.5 trillion added to billionaire wealth last year is almost equal to all the money owned by the poorest 4.1 billion people in the world.
Oxfam is pushing governments around the world to take action. The organization wants more taxes on extreme wealth, strong rules to stop the rich from controlling politics, and plans to reduce inequality. It says these steps are needed to help ordinary people and protect Equality.