Oxfam Warns That COVID Kills The Poor While Enriching The Rich.

According to a new Oxfam International report released on Monday, the wealth of the world's top ten men has more than doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, fueling inequality that contributes to the deaths of at least 21,300 people every day.

"We enter 2022 with unprecedented concern," warns Oxfam's Inequality Kills (to add link) report, arguing that the world's current state of extreme inequality is a form of "economic violence" against the world's poorest people and nations.

In this deeply unequal world, structural and systemic policy and political choices are skewed in favor of the richest and most powerful, causing harm to the vast majority of ordinary people worldwide, according to the report, which cited the COVID-19 vaccine divide as an example.

"Millions of people would be alive today if they had received a vaccine — but they are dead, denied a chance while big pharmaceutical corporations maintain monopoly control of these technologies," Oxfam said.

According to the report, 252 men own more wealth than all one billion women and girls in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean combined. And ten of the world's wealthiest men own more than the poorest 3.1 billion people.

Furthermore, while the rich got a lot richer during the pandemic, 99 percent of humanity's incomes suffered.

The Oxfam report is usually released ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland – but the gathering of the world's wealthiest and most powerful people has been postponed yet again this year due to the pandemic.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Global Risks Report 2022 (PDF) last week, warning that the lopsided economic recovery from the coronavirus, much of which has relied on the roll-out of vaccines.

It also emphasized that growing inequality, exacerbated by the pandemic, will undoubtedly cause additional tensions and resentments, complicating nations' responses to climate change, economic disparities, and social instabilities.

Despite efforts by the UN and governments over the last several decades to combat poverty and more evenly distribute technology and access to education, the world has been trending toward severe inequality for decades.

"These modern-day divides are directly linked to historical legacies of racism, such as slavery and colonialism," according to the Oxfam report.

According to the report, the world's top one percent have captured nearly 20 times more of global wealth than the bottom 50 percent since 1995. And the pandemic has made matters far worse.