Income of Top Richest Men Doubled in Covid Time: Report
New Delhi: Last two years remained very tough and crucial for millions of people in the world due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tens of thousands fell under the extreme poverty line after losing jobs in this period. On the other side, the top richest men have doubled their income in covid times.
According to the Oxfam report, Men’s wealth jumped from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion, at an average rate of $1.3 billion per day.
A confederation of charities that focus on alleviating global poverty, Oxfam said the billionaires’ wealth rose more during the pandemic more than it did the previous 14 years when the world economy was suffering the worst recession since the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
It called this inequality “economic violence” and said inequality is contributing to the death of 21,000 people every day due to a lack of access to healthcare, gender-based violence, hunger, and climate change.
The pandemic has plunged 160 million people into poverty, the charity added, with non-white ethnic minorities and women bearing the brunt of the impact as inequality soared. The report follows a December 2021 study by the group which found that the share of global wealth of the world’s richest people soared at a record pace during the pandemic.
Forbes listed the world’s 10 richest men as Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, former Microsoft CEOs Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer, former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, US investor Warren Buffet and the head of the French luxury group LVMH, Bernard Arnault.
(_Vinayak Barot)
