Billionaire wealth jumps three times faster in 2025 to highest peak ever, sparking dangerous political inequality says Oxfam

• Billionaires 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people
• The wealth of African billionaires grew four times faster in 2025 than in the previous five years combined

Billionaire wealth jumped by over 16 per cent in 2025, three times faster than the past five-year average, to $18.3 trillion – its highest level in history, according to a new Oxfam report today as the World Economic Forum opens in Davos.

In Nigeria, this surge is even more aggressive. While the country battles its worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, the wealth of African billionaires grew twice as fast as the global average by 36.5% in a single year. This disconnect is epitomized by Nigeria's richest man, Aliko Dangote, whose wealth has climbed to $24.8 billion.

The report, "Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Protecting Freedom from Billionaire Power", analyses how the super-rich are securing political power to shape the rules of our economies and societies for their own gain.

Nowhere is this "rule of the rich" more visible than in Nigeria’s tax system. The report exposes how political connections allow billionaires to bypass the struggles of the common man.

A shocking case study in the report reveals that, despite posting profit margins of 86 percent, Dangote Cement paid an effective tax rate of just 2 percent over the analyzed period.

The surge in billionaire wealth coincides with a deepening debt crisis. The report highlights that in Africa, spending on debt servicing is now 150 percent greater than the combined spending on education, healthcare, and social protection.

Oxfam is calling for a new era of public action, including:

• A National Inequality Reduction Plan (NIRP) for Nigeria: The government must dismantle the monopolies that rig the economy.
• A Wealth Tax on the Super-Rich: Oxfam calculates that a wealth tax of 1% on net worth above $1 million could raise billions annually, enough to double the national health budget.
• End Tax Waivers: A complete moratorium on tax holidays for corporations that are already profitable.

Accountability for the political empowerment of ordinary citizens, including stronger protection for people’s freedoms of association, assembly and expression and for civil society organisations and trade unions.