An unprecedented wealth surge has accumulated historic levels of fortune in the hands of a minuscule minority. According to an analysis by economist Gabriel Zucman of UC Berkeley and the Paris School of Economics, only 19 U.S. households added $1 trillion to their net worth in 2024.
What Happened: This amount is larger than Switzerland's entire economy. Tracked the distribution of U.S. household wealth over more than a century, demonstrating how the country's richest citizens have rapidly hoarded wealth and widened the gap between themselves and the rest, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Zucman's analysis.
The top 0.00001% of American households, which includes those now worth at least $45 billion, increased their collective share of household wealth from 1.2% in 2023 to 1.8% by the end of 2024. That is a one-year jump of $1 trillion, amounting to a total of $2.6 trillion.
Zucman notes that overall, U.S. household wealth is estimated to be at least $148 trillion. Wealth creation at this level has risen faster than at any point in time since 1913, when Zucman's historical data begins. These households include familiar names like Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO Warren Buffett, and Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos.
See Also: Elon Musk Said He’d Give $6 Billion to End World Hunger If the UN Could Explain How -- They Did, But He Didn’t Give Them a Dime
Why It Matters: While U.S. economic growth has led to increased wealth across all income groups since the early 1990s, increases at the top levels have accelerated at higher levels. A household in the top 0.1% has added an $3.4 million on an average every year since 1990. In contrast, the rest of the top 1% have added $450,000.
In January, a new report from Oxfam titled “Takers Not Makers” revealed that billionaire wealth surged by $2 trillion in 2024, with Elon Musk topping the list at $433.9 billion. It also listed five moguls on track to become trillionaires within the next decade, highlighting the magnitude of wealth inequality.
With global billionaire counts increasing and the U.S. leading the pack, the question of how to tackle extreme concentration of wealth is more relevant than ever as 700 million live in extreme poverty as per latest figures from the World Bank.
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