Billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold public office

Billionaires are far more likely to hold political office than others. (mapodile/E+/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

The richest people on the planet are far more likely to be in power politically than everyone else, Oxfam’s annual inequality report found.

Some 74 of the world’s 2,027 billionaires held either executive or legislative government positions in 2023, giving them a 3.6% chance of holding office, according to Oxfam’s study, which was released Sunday. By contrast, the average global citizen had just a 0.0009% chance of holding office.

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“This year’s report really shines a light on the relationship between political inequality and economic inequality,” said Rebecca Riddell, senior policy lead for economic justice at Oxfam America. “The fact that billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold office than you or I underscores just how much outsized power billionaires have.”

The Oxfam report, which draws on data compiled by Forbes and other sources, is timed to coincide with the kickoff of the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, an elite gathering of some of the richest people and world leaders. Its release also comes as billionaire U.S. President Donald Trump marks his first year in office.

Trump has assembled the wealthiest cabinet and team in modern American history, with multiple billionaires and multimillionaires leading government agencies. The administration, along with a Republican-led Congress, last year enacted a sweeping domestic policy package that included big tax cuts for the wealthy and historic cuts to the nation’s safety net program. In addition, Trump is attempting to strip union protections from a sizable share of the federal workforce, as well as dismantle consumer protection measures and corporate regulations.

“A billionaire-led administration has pushed a pro-billionaire agenda that has taken the US to the brink of extremes in terms of in terms of inequality,” Riddell said.

Oligarchy, however, is a global issue, she said. The report points out that the richest men in Argentina and Africa have close ties to Argentina’s president and Nigeria’s leader, respectively, which has led to tax breaks for their businesses.

Lucrative year

2025 was a prosperous year for the world’s billionaires.Their wealth grew three times faster last year than the past five-year average, reaching a record $18.3 trillion, Oxfam found.

Their collective wealth skyrocketed by $2.5 trillion, which is almost equal to the wealth held by the 4.1 billion people in the bottom half of the wealth ladder. Two-thirds of that growth would be enough to end global poverty for a year, Riddell said.

In the United States, billionaires’ net worth totals just under $8 trillion. It’s also home to 932 billionaires, more than any other country.

America may also soon see the world’s first trillionaire. If Elon Musk has as lucrative a year in 2026 as he did last year, his wealth will top $1 trillion before the next Davos forum, Riddell said.

Meanwhile, the rate of poverty reduction globally has stagnated, with levels generally where they were in 2019, according to Oxfam. Nearly half the world’s population – or 3.8 billion people – lived in poverty in 2022.

To address the imbalance, Oxfam is calling for reducing inequality through promoting workers’ rights, raising wages, breaking up monopolies and strengthening universal public services and the safety net; limiting the power of the superrich by raising taxes and enacting campaign finance reform; and building political power of the people through voting rights and participatory government.

“Curbing inequality, curbing the power of the very richest and promoting the power of ordinary people are really key ways to both reduce inequality but also promote democracy,” Riddell said.