DAVOS, Switzerland: The world's richest individuals tightened their grip on both wealth and political influence last year, reaching record levels of fortune even as billions of people struggled with poverty and hunger, according to a report released by Oxfam.

Timed to coincide with the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the report said global billionaire wealth rose 16 percent in 2025 to a record US$18.3 trillion, accelerating to three times its recent pace. Since 2020, billionaire fortunes have climbed by 81 percent, the charity said.

The gains came despite worsening conditions for much of the global population. Oxfam said one in four people worldwide now struggle to eat regularly, while nearly half of humanity lives in poverty.

Drawing on academic research and data from sources including the World Inequality Database and Forbes' rich list, Oxfam said the surge in wealth has been accompanied by an increasingly concentrated hold on political power. Billionaires are now 4,000 times more likely than ordinary citizens to hold political office, the report said.

Oxfam linked the latest spike in wealth to policy shifts under U.S. President Donald Trump, whose second administration has cut taxes, reduced oversight of monopolies and shielded multinational corporations from international pressure.

Rapidly rising valuations of artificial intelligence companies have also delivered outsized gains to already wealthy investors, the report said.

"The widening gap between the rich and the rest is at the same time creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable," said Oxfam executive director Amitabh Behar.

Oxfam called on governments to adopt national plans to reduce inequality, introduce higher taxes on extreme wealth and strengthen safeguards between money and politics, including tighter rules on lobbying and campaign financing.

At present, wealth taxes are levied in only a handful of countries, such as Norway, though nations including Britain, France and Italy have debated similar measures.

The Nairobi-based charity calculated that the $2.5 trillion added to billionaire fortunes in 2025 roughly equals the total wealth held by the poorest 4.1 billion people.

Trump addressed global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, promising that his second term would depart from traditional free-market norms both within the United States and internationally.

The number of billionaires worldwide surpassed 3,000 for the first time last year, Oxfam said. Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, became the first individual to exceed $500 billion in net worth.

Behar warned that governments are "making wrong choices to pander to the elite," pointing to cuts in foreign aid and the rollback of civil liberties.

The report also highlighted what it described as the expanding influence of ultra-wealthy individuals over traditional and digital media. Billionaires now own more than half of the world's major media companies, Oxfam said, citing holdings by Jeff Bezos, Musk, Patrick Soon Shiong and France's Vincent Bolloré.