While on the one hand, the coronavirus caused havoc, on the other hand, it made the rich richer and the poor poorer. According to the report of Oxfam, 573 new billionaires increased in the Corona epidemic . one billionaire became every 30 hours.
When Corona wreaked havoc in the world, took away jobs of crores of people, ran out of savings of crores of families, people had to take loans to get themselves and their loved ones treated, then some people in the world were also affected by this epidemic. was benefiting. In the two years of Corona, billionaires have earned more than 23 years. This has been claimed in the report of Oxfam International.
Oxfam International has said in its report that the wealth of the world’s billionaires did not increase as much in 23 years as it did in the first 24 months of Corona.
There are currently 2 thousand 668 billionaires in the world. These billionaires collectively own assets worth $12.7 trillion i.e. Rs 984.95 lakh crore. The wealth they have is 14 percent of the world’s GDP.
5 big things about the report…
1. Get richer and richer: The world grew by 573 billionaires after the pandemic. That is, one billionaire grew every 30 hours. During the epidemic, the wealth of these billionaires increased by 42 percent i.e. Rs 293.16 lakh crore. The world’s 3.1 billion people do not have as much wealth as the 10 richest people.
2. The poor became poorer: Due to the corona epidemic, the income of 99 percent of the people of the world has declined. In 2021 alone, more than 12.5 crore people lost their jobs. The income of the poorest 40 percent of people declined in 2021. On average, 6.7 percent of people’s earnings were falling before the pandemic.
3. Companies became rich: 40 people associated with the pharmaceutical business became billionaires in the pandemic. Companies like Moderna and Pfizer made a profit of 1 thousand dollars (Rs 77,555) every second. The report claimed that pharma companies charge governments 24 times more for generic production.
4. Women unemployed: Before the pandemic, the gender pay gap was estimated to end in 100 years, but now it may take 136 years. In 2020, women were 1.4 times more likely to be out of the labor force than men. Compared to 2019, the number of working women in 2021 was less than 13 million, while the number of working men reached the level of 2019.
5. The poor will live much less: The average income of people living in rich countries is 16 years more than those living in poor countries. Every year 56 lakh people are dying due to a lack of health facilities. Accordingly, 15,000 deaths occur every day. People living in rich areas of So Polo, Brazil, live 14 years longer than those living in poorer areas.
Poverty will increase
According to an Oxfam report, there was a 33.6% increase in food prices last year. This year also, there is a possibility of a 23 percent jump in prices. Rising food prices will lead to more poverty in the world. This year 26.3 crore people could be extremely poor. Accordingly, 1 crore people will become poor every 33 hours this year.
How will this gap be overcome?
Oxfam has suggested increasing taxes to bridge this gap between rich and poor. Those with assets of $5 million should be taxed at 2% and those with assets of $50 million should be taxed at 3%. At the same time, those who have assets of more than one billion dollars should be taxed at 5%. Increasing the tax will bring $2.52 trillion (Rs 195.44 lakh crore) in tax every year from the world’s rich, which will help lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty. The corona vaccine can be delivered to all people around the world.
