Overview
- Global billionaire fortunes have risen about 81% since 2020 in inflation‑adjusted terms, with 2025 alone adding roughly $2.5 trillion.
- The twelve richest individuals now hold more wealth than the poorest half of humanity, and the richest 1% control about 43.8% of global wealth.
- Germany’s billionaire count climbed by one third in 2025 to 172, the fourth‑highest total worldwide, as combined wealth rose around 30% to $840.2 billion.
- Oxfam links concentrated wealth to outsized political and media influence, citing a record $2.6 billion from about 100 billionaire families in the latest U.S. presidential race and noting that seven of the ten largest media groups are at least partly billionaire‑owned.
- The group calls for measures such as a billionaire tax in Germany, with the debate featuring SPD proposals for higher inheritance taxes and opposition from the Union.