Most of the world’s young billionaires inherited their riches. This is a sign of the “billionaire colonialism” setting in.
Wealth operates like a fast-breeder nuclear reactor — it generates more with each passing generation, at least for the already super-rich. The unprecedented accumulation of wealth today, along with the growing number of billionaires, is not primarily driven by business successes or innovations. Instead, most new billionaires have entered the elite club through inheritance.
Conversely, those born into poverty often remain trapped there. Economist Lucas Chancel, lead author of the World Inequality Report, explained that half of the global population, lacking any assets or basic wealth, faces immense challenges in escaping the poverty vortex — this demographic will be perpetually poor, fuelling modern-day colonialism.
Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International, which releases a report on global wealth generation and distribution every year, describes this phenomenon as “billionaire colonialism.”
In January 2025, Oxfam released its report Takers Not Makers: The Unjust Poverty and Unearned Wealth of Colonial Inheritance, a historical analysis drawing parallels between colonial-era wealth extraction and present-day inequality. As has been the recent trend, billionaires' wealth continues to rise rapidly: “In 2024, it grew three times faster than in 2023.”
In absolute terms, billionaires increased their wealth by $2 trillion, with 204 new billionaires joining the ranks. The 10 richest individuals alone saw their wealth rise by $100 million per day in 2024. To put this into perspective, Oxfam noted: “Even if you saved $1,000 daily since the first humans, 315,000 years ago, you still would not have as much money as one of the richest 10 billionaires.”
Global wealth is increasingly concentrated among a small elite who not only amass current riches but secure future wealth as well. Inheritance, the transfer of wealth across generations, often goes untaxed, ensuring its retention within the same group. In 2024, all billionaires under the age of 30 inherited their wealth.
Oxfam underlined a turning point in 2023 when inheritance created more new billionaires than entrepreneurship for the first time. By 2055, it is projected that 1,000 current billionaires will transfer $5.2 trillion to their heirs. “We are about to see the biggest transfer of the largest generational wealth in human history handed over — hardly earned, hardly taxed,” noted the report.
This is a replay of the colonial wealth distribution paradigm. During colonial times, enormous wealth flowed from the Global South to the Global North. Within the rich countries, wealth got concentrated among a few, who became super rich and continued to be so by inheritance.
For example, during the British Empire, the richest 10 per cent held more than half of all income in the UK. It is estimated that Britain extracted $64.82 trillion from India during its colonial rule, with $33.8 trillion benefiting the UK’s wealthiest 10 per cent. “This would be enough to carpet London in £50 notes almost four times over,” Oxfam pointed out.
Drawing parallels with colonial times, the Oxfam report stated that in 2023, “the richest 1 per cent in the Global North were paid $263 billion by the Global South through the financial system — over over $30 million an hour.”
“For those who believe that colonialism, however terrible, was a historical crime, I would argue that there is so much in our modern world that is colonial,” said Behar.