This is a comprehensive summary of a news report by Common Dreams, detailing an Oxfam report on global wealth inequality. --- # News Report Summary: Global Wealth Inequality * **News Title:** Wealth of Global 1% Has Skyrocketed by Over $33 Trillion Since 2015: Report * **Type:** News Report Summary * **Report Provider:** Oxfam * **Article Author:** Jake Johnson * **Publisher/Source:** Common Dreams * **Published Date:** Wednesday, June 26, 2025 * **Time Period Covered by Report Data:** "Past decade" and "since 2015" --- ## I. Main Findings and Conclusions An Oxfam report, published ahead of the June 30 development financing talks in Seville, Spain, concludes that the international community's plan to achieve the **Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)**, agreed upon in 2015, has **"failed utterly."** This failure is attributed to: * Continued expansion of global inequality. * Stagnation of efforts to end poverty. * Escalation of the climate crisis. According to Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International, "There is glaring evidence that global development is desperately failing because—as the last decade shows—the interests of a very wealthy few are put over those of everyone else." He asserts that "Rich countries have put Wall Street in the driver's seat of global development," leading to a "global private finance takeover" that has undermined public investments and fair taxation as effective poverty-tackling methods. ## II. Key Statistics and Metrics * **Wealth Surge of Richest 1%:** The richest 1% globally have seen their wealth surge by **more than $33.9 trillion** over the past decade, specifically since 2015. * **Billionaires' Contribution:** Just **3,000 billionaires** account for **$6.5 trillion** of this increase. * **Poverty Elimination Potential:** Oxfam's analysis indicates that the roughly **$34 trillion** wealth increase enjoyed by the global 1% since 2015 would be enough to eliminate annual poverty "**22 times over**." * **Public Support for Taxing the Rich:** A new global survey cited in the report finds that **9 out of 10 people** globally support taxing the super-rich to raise revenue for public services and climate action. ## III. Significant Trends and Concerns * **Expanding Inequality:** Global inequality continues to widen, with wealth concentration "choking efforts to end poverty." * **Stagnating Development Goals:** Governments are "abysmally off track" on fostering decent jobs, gender equality, and ending hunger. * **Private Finance Dominance:** A "Wall Street Consensus" has prioritized private profit over public good in global development, allowing international crises to run rampant while the ultra-wealthy accumulate massive fortunes. * **Cuts to Development Aid:** Wealthiest countries, including the United States under President Donald Trump, are making "unprecedented cuts" to development aid spending. This is identified as a "surefire way to reverse any recent progress toward reducing global hunger, poverty, and disease." * **Locked Wealth:** Trillions of dollars that could tackle global emergencies "are locked away in private accounts of the ultra-wealthy." ## IV. Important Recommendations The Oxfam report advocates for a "new agenda" to break free from the current private profit-centered model, urging the international community to: * **Reject the "Wall Street Consensus"**: Shift away from private finance-driven development. * **Put the Public in the Driving Seat**: Prioritize public investments over private interests. * **Tax the Very Wealthiest**: Implement higher taxes on the super-rich to generate revenue for public services and climate action. * **Reform International Financial Architecture**: Implement structural changes to the global financial system. * **Restore Aid**: Reverse cuts and increase development aid spending. * **Build Public Goods**: Invest in essential public services such as healthcare and energy. Behar emphasized, "Governments should heed widespread demands to tax the rich—and match it with a vision to build public goods from healthcare to energy." The upcoming conference in Seville is highlighted as a crucial opportunity for countries to collaborate on tackling extreme inequality and rejecting the "Wall Street Consensus" around development financing.
Wealth of Global 1% Has Skyrocketed by Over $33 Trillion Since 2015: Report | Common Dreams
Read original at Common Dreams →An Oxfam report published Wednesday estimates that the richest 1% globally have seen their wealth surge by more than $33.9 trillion over the past decade, with just 3,000 billionaires accounting for $6.5 trillion of that increase.The report, released ahead of June 30 development financing talks in Seville, Spain, argues that the international community's plan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon in 2015 has failed utterly as global inequality has continued to expand, efforts to end poverty have stagnated, and the climate crisis has spiraled further out of control."
There is glaring evidence that global development is desperately failing because—as the last decade shows—the interests of a very wealthy few are put over those of everyone else," said Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International. "Rich countries have put Wall Street in the driver's seat of global development.
It's a global private finance takeover which has overrun the evidence-backed ways to tackle poverty through public investments and fair taxation.""It is no wonder governments are abysmally off track, be it on fostering decent jobs, gender equality, or ending hunger," Behar added. "This much wealth concentration is choking efforts to end poverty."
According to Oxfam's analysis, the roughly $34 trillion wealth increase enjoyed by the global 1% since 2015 would be enough to eliminate annual poverty "22 times over.""It's time we rejected the Wall Street Consensus and instead put the public in the driving seat."The report argues that "a new agenda is needed" to break free from the private profit-centered global development model that has allowed international crises to run rampant while letting the ultra-wealthy continue growing their massive fortunes unabated.
The upcoming conference in Seville, the report states, represents a key opportunity for countries that are willing to "work together to tackle extreme inequality" and "reject the 'Wall Street Consensus' around financing development.""They can start by taxing the very wealthiest—a new global survey finds 9 out of 10 people support taxing the super-rich to raise the revenue needed to invest in public services and climate action," the report notes.
"Reforms to the international financial architecture and restoring aid are also key."The report comes as the world's wealthiest countries, including the United States under President Donald Trump, are making unprecedented cuts to development aid spending, a surefire way to reverse any recent progress toward reducing global hunger, poverty, and disease.
Behar said Wednesday that "trillions of dollars exist" to tackle such emergencies, "but they're locked away in private accounts of the ultra-wealthy.""It's time we rejected the Wall Street Consensus and instead put the public in the driving seat," said Behar. "Governments should heed widespread demands to tax the rich—and match it with a vision to build public goods from healthcare to energy.
It's a hopeful sign that some governments are banding together to fight inequality—more should follow their lead, starting in Seville."
