According to a report from the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, the world’s top 1 percent has grabbed nearly two-thirds of the $42 trillion in new wealth created since 2020.

In the report by Oxfam titled “Survival of the Richest”, the share was almost twice as much money as what the lowest 99 percent of the world’s population received. World billionaires’ wealth is said to be growing by $2.7 billion per day, contrasted with the report of at least 1.7 billion people currently residing in nations where inflation is surpassing salaries.

In addition, according to Oxfam, half of the world’s billionaires reside in nations that do not impose inheritance taxes on their direct descendants, putting them on track to leave $5 trillion to their heirs—more than Africa’s entire GDP.

An analysis by Oxfam noted that if a 5 percent tax is charged to the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires, the world could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty.

Oxfam’s Executive Director Gabriela Bucher called the findings of the report “shocking”. “It’s shameful that … one percent of humanity is taking double the wealth of the whole 99 percent combined,” she said.

“It outpaces what was happening in the last 10 years – which was that they were having half and half. So we can see that wealth accumulation is accelerating in the middle of this crisis that we’re facing globally,”  Bucher added.

“What we’re calling for is for countries to introduce new taxes and discussing in those countries what is fair … in certain countries like Nigeria or India, we know that wealth taxation could be a significant change for the budget of the country and would enable them to invest much more in health and education – things that matter to everyone.”