As every year, the NGO Oxfam publishes its report dedicated to the distribution of wealth in the world on the occasion of the Davos Forum. Again this year, she decried growing inequalities and called for taxing the richest as well as developing public services.
According to the NGO Oxfam, the richest in France have increased their wealth by 87%
For the 2024 edition, the NGO Oxfam named its report “ Big fortunes and small systems… Billionaires are king against the states”. Later, he wants to recall that the gap between the richest and the rest continues to widen, “ The wealth of the world’s five richest men rose from $405 billion (€369 billion) to $869 billion (€792.7 billion), an increase of $14 million per year. hours (12.7 million euros). At the same time, the accumulated wealth of five billion people has declined. The richest 1% own 48% of all the world’s financial wealth », indicate the authors of this report. France is not excluded,” The richest 1% own 36% of financial wealth… The four richest French billionaires and their families (Arnault, Bettencourt Meyers, Gérard and Alain Wertheimer) have seen their wealth increase by 87%. At the same time, the accumulated wealth of the French has declined », they add.
The report by NGO Oxfam also emphasizes the dominance of powerful oligopolies that affect almost all sectors. Apart from IT, where 90% of internet searches are done by Google, the health sector is also affected by the presence of powerful oligopolies. ” Between 1995 and 2015, 60 pharmaceutical companies merged into just 10 global giants, Big Pharma. “, says the report. The same goes for agriculture, where ” Two international companies now account for more than 40% of the global seed market », explain the authors of the report.
Oxfam calls for taxing the richest
Besides wealth, power is also unevenly distributed, Oxfam points out. ” 21% of humanity lives in the Global North, but these countries have 69% of private wealth “, while,” Statutory corporate tax rates have been cut by more than half in OECD countries », note the authors. For NGOs, the solution to these inequalities involves more taxation of the very rich and improved public services. For Cécile Duflot, director of Oxfam France, “ Covid has set back improvements seen in a generation. What is most valuable in fighting inequality is redistribution and public services. What they don’t have is capital “
