As world leaders descend on Davos, we need to talk about inequality
Next week, from January 19-23, world leaders – including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney – influential executives, and civil society will descend on Davos, Switzerland for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026. This well-known forum is touted as an opportunity to discuss big ideas to solve pressing global challenges. But is it?
The fact is the most pressing challenge across the world today is not on the agenda – rising inequality. There's no hiding the fact that the globe over, the rich are getting richer at the expense of everyday people and that the resulting inequality reverberates through economies, society, and politics. The number of billionaires and their wealth continue to rise – including in Canada – and so does the power and influence they wield, making life more expensive and unfair for the rest of us. In 2025, Oxfam Canada launched our first ever Inequality Scorecard to track the state of inequality in Canada. Spoiler alert, Canada's not doing great.
Every year, Oxfam publishes its flagship report on inequality, highlighting the alarming rate at which the wealth gap is increasing and the systems that are allowing this to happen. Last year, our report revealed that, globally, billionaire wealth grew by $2.8 trillion in 2024 alone, equivalent to roughly $7.9 billion a day. Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty – nearly 3.6 billion people – has barely changed since 1990. Here in Canada, in 2024 alone, billionaire wealth increased by $309 million per day, while 3.8 million people lived below the poverty line.
We know this inequality is not inevitable – rather, it's the result of policy choices. Our political leaders are making the choice to allow inequality to grow, accelerate, and thrive. Why? Because they are leading with the interests of the ultra-rich and corporate leaders, who wield the power to influence key decisions, rather than regular people like you and me. This needs to change.
As the World Economic Forum 2026 kicks off in Davos, we at Oxfam will be sharing some eye-popping data on inequality that offers a new lens to look at the WEF and its business-as-usual agenda. With Prime Minister Carney attending the WEF 2026, along with other world leaders and influential figures, this Davos moment has high stakes and a strong opportunity to spotlight the most critical issues of our time that need their attention.
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