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January 18, 2022

World's Richest Saw Their Wealth Double as Pandemic Pushed 160 Million People into Poverty
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The wealth of the world's richest 10 men doubled since the start of the
pandemic, even as 160 million more people were pushed into poverty.
That's the conclusion of Oxfam in its report "Inequality Kills,"
released as the World Economic Forum kicked off its annual meeting -
virtually, due to the pandemic. The report found global inequality is
"contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people each day" - or one
person every four seconds - even as the combined wealth of Elon Musk,
Jeff Bezos and eight other men grew by $1.2 billion a day. On Monday,
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres echoed Oxfam's warning
on global inequality.

Secretary-General António Guterres: "The last two years have
demonstrated a simple but brutal truth: If we leave anyone behind, in
the end we leave everyone behind. If we fail to vaccinate every person,
we give rise to new variants that spread across borders and bring daily
life and economies to a grinding halt. And if we fail to provide debt
relief and financing to developing countries, we create a lopsided
recovery that can send an interconnected global economy into a
tailspin."



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