DAVOS, Switzerland >> Billionaires’ wealth grew three times faster in 2024 than the year before, a top anti-poverty group reported on Monday as some of the world’s political and financial elite prepared for an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

Oxfam International, in its latest assessment of global inequality timed to the opening of the World Economic Forum meeting, also predicts at least five trillionaires will crop up over the next decade. A year ago, the group forecast that only one trillionaire would appear during that time.

OxFam’s research adds weight to a warning by outgoing President Joe Biden last week of a “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of very few ultra-wealthy people.” The group’s sharp-edged report, titled “Takers Not Makers,” also says the number of people in poverty has barely budged since 1990.

The World Economic Forum expects to host some 3,000 attendees, including business executives, academics and government officials at its annual meeting in the Alpine village of Davos. The first big day of meetings starts Tuesday, after a largely ceremonial start on Monday.

How will Davos-goers respond to Trump’s inauguration?

Expect President Donald Trump’s return to the White House to be a topic of conversations and off-the-cuff remarks. Policy experts are participating in a panel this morning titled, “47th U.S. Presidency, Early Thoughts” and a town hall called “State of Play: U.S. Dollar.”

Ukrianian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to deliver speeches at Davos on Tuesday.

President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, an avowed supporter of Trump, took a wait-and-see attitude before Trump gave his inaugural address on Monday. Vucic said he and his team would spend the evening analyzing the speech.

“Everybody hopes that Trump will bring new ambition and new energy” into resolving the Russia-Ukraine war, the Serbian leader told The Associated Press. “I hope that Trump will do something in very concrete terms.”

Trump’s first speech of his second presidency was heavy on domestic issues, but he said “my proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier” and alluded to a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that took effect on Sunday.

Trump, who visited Davos twice during his first term, was expected to take part in the forum’s event by video on Thursday.

Anti-poverty activists fear ‘new aristocracy’ in U.S. and beyond

Trump has long championed wealth accumulation and counts multibillionaire Elon Musk as a top adviser.

“What you’re seeing at the moment is a billionaire president taking oaths today, backed by the richest man. So this is pretty much the jewel in the crown of the global oligarchies,” Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International, said in an interview, referring to Trump and Musk.

“It’s not about one specific individual. It’s the economic system that we have created where the billionaires are now pretty much being able to shape economic policies, social policies, which eventually gives them more and more profit,” he added.

Like Biden’s call for making billionaires “begin to pay their fair share” through the U.S. tax code, Oxfam called on governments to tax the richest to reduce inequality and extreme wealth, and to “dismantle the new aristocracy.”

The group called for steps like the break-up of monopolies, capping CEO pay, and regulation of corporations to ensure they pay “living wages” to workers.