Billionaires 4,000 times more likely to hold political office, says Oxfam report

Billionaires, whose wealth saw record growth in 2025, are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary citizens, according to a global Oxfam report released Tuesday, coinciding with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In the report titled “Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Protecting Freedom from Billionaire Power,” Oxfam said that 11% of the world’s billionaires had either held or sought political office in 2023, making them 4,000 times more likely to occupy political positions than average citizens.

Oxfam warned that this extreme concentration of political power is “hollowing out democracies, weakening public institutions, and driving growing anger and unrest worldwide, including in the Philippines.”

The organization noted that billionaires’ increased political participation coincides with their record-breaking wealth.

In 2025 alone, the wealth of the world’s billionaires grew by more than 16%, or US $18.3 trillion, Oxfam said, marking a growth rate three times faster than the average of the previous five years. The number of billionaires worldwide also surpassed 3,000 for the first time.

This surge comes amid persistent global inequality, with nearly half of the world’s population living in poverty, Oxfam said.

“The widening gap between the rich and the rest is creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable,” Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International executive director, said in a statement.

“Governments are making wrong choices to pander to the elite, defending wealth while repressing people’s rights and fueling anger as many struggle with unaffordable and unbearable living conditions.”

The report also cited the World Values Survey, which found that almost half of respondents across 66 countries believe that wealthy people often buy elections in their countries.

In the Philippines, Oxfam highlighted that recent corruption in flood control projects has worsened income inequality.

The country remains the 15th most unequal globally and among the Southeast Asian nations with the starkest wealth divide, the report said.

“Filipinos are witnessing inequality become a matter of life and death when corruption diverts billions meant for flood control, while the wealthy amass record fortunes,” Maria Rosario “Lot” Felizco, Oxfam Pilipinas executive director, told BusinessWorld in a text message.

“We cannot let wealth and greed capture our democracy and determine who gets protected and who is abandoned during disasters,” she added.

Meanwhile, Oxfam Pilipinas policy advocacy and communications manager Mai Lagman told BusinessWorld in a phone interview that a local report detailing billionaires’ political influence in the Philippines is set to be released soon.

Oxfam urged governments to control the political power of extreme wealth by implementing realistic, time-bound national inequality reduction plans, effectively taxing the super-rich, enforcing stronger firewalls between wealth and politics, and ensuring accountability for the political empowerment of ordinary citizens.

Oxfam International is a global confederation of over 20 organizations working in over 70 countries to fight poverty, reduce inequality, and promote social justice.— Edg Adrian A. Eva