While the vast majority of the EU’s population has become steadily poorer recently, its top five richest billionaires have increased their wealth from €244bn in 2020 to €429bn in 2023, an Oxfam report revealed on Monday (15 January).

This represents a 76 percent increase in just three years — at a rate of €5.7m per hour.

“This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring that corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else,” said Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International’s interim executive director.