The number of billionaires across the world reached a record number in 2025, a recently published Oxfam report has said, as their collective wealth surged to $18.3 trillion.
Oxfam’s study, which came just ahead the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos, highlighted that the number of billionaires across the world went past 3,000 for the first time in 2025.
“Whilst US billionaires have seen the sharpest growth in their fortunes, billionaires in the rest of the world have also seen double digit increases,” the charity organisation said in its latest report.
Collective wealth of billionaires grow
Oxfam’s study, which draws on academic research and data sources ranging from the World Inequality Database to Forbes' rich list, found that the fortunes of global billionaires jumped 16% in 2025 to $18.3 trillion.
This was up by 81%, or $8.2 trillion, since 2020, the report found. “The world's 12 richest billionaires have more wealth than the poorest half of humanity, or more than four billion people,” it said.
The level of billionaire wealth is now higher than any time in history, the study noted. Soaring valuations of artificial intelligence companies have added further windfall gains, making investors wealthier.
“The pace of growth over the last year, since November 2024, was 16.2%, three time higher than the average rate of growth since 2020,” Oxfam said.
Elon Musk's wealth
The Oxfam report also highlighted Elon Musk's net worth gain in 2025, when the billionaire became the first person in the world to touch the $500 billion, $600 billion and $700 billion wealth since October.
“In October 2025, the world's richest man, Elon Musk, became the first person to have wealth over half a trillion dollars,” Oxfam said.
After touching $500 billion net worth in October last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk became the first person ever worth $600 billion, Forbes reported in December.
The achievement came on the heels of reports that his SpaceX startup was likely to go public at a valuation of $800 billion. Musk owns an estimated 42% stake in SpaceX, while his wealth also got a boost from his roughly 12% stake in EV maker Tesla which had seen a fairly smooth second half of 2025.
Top 10 richest persons in the world
Here is a list of the top 10 richest persons in the world, according to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires List.
1. Elon Musk, Tesla & SpaceX: Net worth – $779.6 billion
2. Larry Page, Google: Net worth – $270 billion
3. Jeff Bezos, Amazon: Net worth – $249.8 billion
4. Sergey Brin, Google: Net worth – $249.1 billion
5. Larry Ellison, Oracle: Net worth – $240.6 billion
6. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook: Net worth – $212.8 billion
7. Bernard Arnault & family, LVMH: Net worth – $182.4 billion
8. Jensen Huang, NVIDIA (Semiconductors): Net worth – $161.7 billion
9. Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway: Net worth – $146.1 billion
10. Amancio Ortega, Zara: Net worth – $143.1 billion